GRAP Volume Two
by RoyalPsycho
Summary: The first semester of the 1462 freshman class at Beacon is rapidly coming to a close. As the Vytal Festival approaches Team GRAP have begun to prepare to participate. However dark forces have begun to mobilise and, though they don't yet know it, the team will be forced to fight for their lives and the safety of Vale. The second volume of and sequel to GRAP.
1. Chapter One: It's A New Start

**Chapter** **One** **:** **It's A New Start** **:**

 **October** **6** **th** **1462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

A tense atmosphere filled the office of Jaune Arc, headmaster of Beacon and the one responsible for the investigation that had occupied the mind of the professor for the past month. The room was austere and spartan, featuring no discernible furniture other than the large interactive desk and the professor's chair. Those who had visited it before knew that the room featured numerous hidden accessories but none of them were currently visible.

Overhead, the massive clockwork cogs shifted, silently grinding against one another in a slow sequence. Thanks to the sombre, serious mood that permeated the room the machinery above the transparent ceiling seemed ominous.

Jaune sat straight in his seat as he prepared for his guests to arrive. Professor John Smith, his deputy headmaster was pacing in a space beside his desk, his head bowed down and his eyes on the floor as he mumbled inaudibly to himself. They had been going over the topic of the upcoming meeting for several hours now, sacrificing their duties to the school to make time for the investigation into the Elder Grimm Society. The catching up they had needed to make after their investigatory sessions had stressed them out a lot, especially with the additional preparations they needed to make for their participation in the Vytal Festival.

Jaune himself was looking down at his desk as he waited, watching the images of recent newsreels as they reported the ongoing police campaign in the Old Residential District. With the deployment of riot forces and even one of the police's old retrofitted Paladins, the news had gleefully whipped up the people's fears as they brought back stories and footage of firefights and raids.

Several weeks prior, a faunus terrorist identified as a member of the Red Fang, the brutally misanthropic faunus terror group, had perpetrated a mass-shooting and suicide bombing on a crowded mall. Shortly after that the police had, at the Council's insistence, begun to mobilise to probe the crime-ridden Old Residential District to see if there were any more criminals. It was a political move made to assuage the peoples' demands for vengeance and it was only causing more problems.

The police had uncovered rather extensive Red Fang activity but had also shaken up the massive rats nest of criminal cartels that divided the Old Residential District. They had practically started a war thanks to their hunt and it had dragged the Atlesian students sent to assist their group into the fighting on several occasions.

Frowning, Jaune dismissed the news feeds and leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms over his head and groaning quietly as he stretched. He and John were currently waiting for the two teams, GOLD and SWRZ to join them and make their report. The exchange students had been operating mostly by themselves and Jaune knew that it was a terrible way to conduct an investigation. He had agreed to let the teams do their own thing – with a few minor stipulations such as attending a couple of classes whilst they stayed – but it was necessary that they all compile their discoveries and information every now and then.

Jaune straightened as he saw the light indicating what floor the elevator was one light up at his office. He sat up, put his hands on the desk in front of him and tried to look professional again. John had stopped pacing as well and stood just as straight, his hands behind his back.

The elevator doors opened and a large group of heavily armoured students walked out and stood in an ordered line. Despite their military precision they were a surprisingly colourful ensemble with brightly painted armour, each of which was distinct and often decorated with symbols and insignia. They were all about nineteen or twenty, indicating their position as third year seniors and were described as the cream of the current crop back at Atlas. It was for this very reason that they had been informed of the existence of the Elder Grimm Society and the ongoing investigation to find them in Vale.

"Even then they barely know what's really going on," Jaune thought, keeping his face straight as he scanned the eight-man group.

'Teams GOLD and SWRZ reporting for duty sir,' Geoffrey Strong, the leader of Team GOLD said smartly, barely restraining the urge to snap off a salute.

'Glad to hear it,' Jaune said with a small smile. 'How was your last visit to the Old District?'

'We stuck to the edges of the war effort this time,' Selene Lupina, the leader of Team SWRZ replied. Her familiar self-satisfied smirk was gone as she relayed their experiences. 'The disruption the police campaign has caused made it difficult to travel but we have been able to keep an eye on a series of small cells that have been on the move. The Red Fang are coalescing away from the south and further north, into the centre of the district.'

'Police reports corroborate these observations,' John added. 'They haven't had as much luck finding cells as your teams have but the few sightings they have been able to make have shown a general pattern of movement northwards.'

'They're planning something,' Geoffrey said. 'Every stronghold we've been able to break into has shown signs of being quickly cleared of anything useful. They're packing all their possessions and shipping them out wholesale.'

"Stronghold? Really?" Jaune thought as he listened to the Atlesian's report. 'Where do you think they're taking it all?'

'I'm afraid we're not sure,' Geoffrey replied.

'But our first guess would be the border regions of the district,' Selene interrupted, drawing a short glare from Geoffrey. 'We managed to catch one of the groups as they were leaving and the cars they brought were loaded with weapons and ammunition. The stamps on the crates said that they contained Atlesian made weapons, that are far too expensive for the Red Fang to acquire them on their own.' The girl paused to take a breath and then continued, her face appearing much more serious.

'The few leads we had on the Society were able to turn up a few purchases for weapons and ammunition by individuals who are suspects,' Selene said. 'The receipts were incomplete and showed signs of being tampered with but the fragments we were able to dig up match up with what we saw on those crates. We firmly believe that the Society, for whatever reason, are backing the Red Fang.'

'We chose not to pursue them at the time though,' Geoffrey then said. 'Another firefight was approaching when we discovered them, it's likely the reason the cell was sloppy enough to be caught by us was because of the battle bearing down on them.'

'Well I'd prefer you don't get too close to them yet,' Jaune interjected. 'I don't want any of you to get caught by their leaders, especially Aanjay Laal.'

'Aanjay Laal, sir?' Selene asked hesitantly. She had a cautiously sceptical look on her face and Jaune could see that most of the other shared her expression.

'Yes,' Jaune replied. 'If you do spot her I want to you to avoid combat if at all possible. She's incredibly dangerous and I want professional Huntsmen to take her down if we find her.'

'Understood sir,' Geoffrey said, his heels unconsciously clicking together. 'We have nothing else of significance to report but there should be additional details in our written mission statements.'

'I see,' Jaune said bringing up his email and seeing that a folder had been sent to him a few hours ago bearing the Atlesian teams' signatures. 'Thanks a lot. I'll go over them and then get back to you when we've made our decisions about what our next moves will be.'

'Thank you sir,' Geoffrey replied. 'We will continue our investigations in the Old Residential District in the meantime.'

'That's fine,' Jaune said as he looked over the teams. He saw that many of them were trying to cover looks that could only be either disappointment or annoyance, probably because of the orders he had just given. Some were doing better jobs of hiding their feelings than others. Team SWRZ, especially, were struggling to hold back what he presumed were scathing comments about his command to avoid combat with the criminals that may be connected with the group they were hunting. 'You can return to your rooms. Oh, I also noticed that you haven't actually attended that many classes.'

'Well,' Selene began just as Geoffrey was about to open his mouth, 'with all due respect sir, we do have a job to do.'

'Oh I know that,' Jaune replied, fixing her with a small glare. 'Its just part of this deal was that you keep up appearances of being exchange students. I can't keep making excuses for you all to the staff about why two new teams on their rosters keep skipping class.'

'We understand perfectly sir,' Geoffrey said, giving Selene a significant side-glance. 'We'll put more effort into our appearances.'

'That's good to hear,' Jaune then said with a smile. 'You can all go now. Get some rest, you've done brilliantly so far.'

The two teams left after giving him stiff, military nods. Once they were gone Jaune sighed and leaned forward, his elbows on his desk. He waved his hand over the glass surface and brought back the various interlink windows, with another wave they were projected in front of him. Glancing over the reports he silently brought up several more that displayed the profiles of numerous suspects in their investigation.

'There's no doubt that the Society and the Red Fang are connected, is there?' John asked, finally speaking up for the first time.

'No,' Jaune sighed. 'Just like before they're being used to cause trouble and distract us.'

'And it's working,' John continued for him. 'We can't leave them alone if they're being given arms shipments, especially if Aanjay Laal is finally getting involved.'

'We'll have to move carefully,' Jaune continued. 'The Red Fang aren't as large as the White Fang were but I have no idea what they'll do if we push them. We both saw what the White Fang would do but they had a goal, they wanted to conquer the kingdoms for the faunus. The Red Fang would let the Grimm overrun the world and kill everyone, even themselves, just to spite us.'

'We might have to pull some of our Huntsmen back,' John suggested. 'Its a bad idea to let those children handle everything.'

Jaune rubbed his face and suppressed a groan of frustration. His resources were stretched as it was and the more people he brought into the fold the more risks were made to their group's society. After so many years running such an organization he finally knew how Professor Ozpin had felt, running a school whilst trying to hunt down the biggest threats to humanity as a whole.

'I'll see who I can pull out of the field,' Jaune finally said. 'In the meantime we'll have to let those kids handle the issue. We can't leave this alone and right now they're all we have.'

'You don't think we're being too hasty,' John asked. Jaune turned to his friend to see a concerned expression on his face. The deputy headmaster was a man who had many regrets and Jaune knew what the man was thinking.

'We have to be,' Jaune replied. 'I don't want our kids to go through what we did. If we can help it, all they'll know is the relative peace we've given them.'

'Well I can't argue with that,' John said sourly with a frown.

'Lets see if we can keep the peace then,' Jaune said with a sigh. He then turned back to the holograms and tried not to think about his students experiencing what he had when he was their age. If he was quick and lucky he would spare them from the kind of horrors and hardships that had almost destroyed the world.

* * *

 **October 7** **th** **1462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

Lach Boucanier liked to think he was a tolerable man, a principled man who was willing to try new things if it helped him get along with people. Of course that didn't mean he was a pushover, he defended his own principles doggedly but, on occasion, his principle of keeping the peace with his friends and teammates did clash with his own wants and desires. Today was such an example as he sullenly followed his team and Team GRAP down one of the streets in the Central Commercial District.

Today they were shopping, an activity he normally didn't mind since he wasn't completely averse to it, especially now that his allowance could be stretched by his student discounts but this trip was different. They were all going clothes shopping.

"What did I do to deserve this?" Lach thought to himself glumly as he followed the others down the street. Peter, Adelheid and Aurora had taken the lead with Elizabeth hanging just a little bit behind them and were all chatting quite enthusiastically. Greta was talking with Tom and Rapture though the faunus girl wasn't as involved in their conversation and Lach was bringing up the rear.

'You alright back there Lach?' Greta suddenly asked, turning to look at him but continuing to move forward.

'Huh?' Lach grunted, startled from his thoughts. 'Oh, uh, yeah. I'm fine. Just wonderin' what we're gonna be looking for?'

'By this point I don't really know,' Greta admitted with a shrug. 'Peter and Aurora just said they needed things for the Vytal Festival.'

'Yeah,' Tom added. 'Adelheid and Elizabeth said the same thing. It's the first time I've ever seen them agree on something and not fight about it.'

'Wow,' Rapture said sardonically, not looking their way. 'I never thought I'd hear that.'

'I know its weird,' Tom said in response, badly stifling a grin.

'So does anyone want to guess what we're being dragged to?' Lach asked. He had several ideas but was too scared to even think them out loud.

'Clothes probably,' Greta replied flippantly, causing Lach to wince at the very thought.

'Oh by all the gods don't le' it be that?' Lach groaned.

'You don't like clothes shopping?' Tom asked.

'I have no problem with it when we go in ta get somethin' quickly,' Lach replied. 'But when when those four,' he indicated Peter, Adelheid, Aurora and Elizabeth, 'go shoppin' we'll be taking forever.'

'And we'll make sure we take our time for that remark,' Adelheid shouted back.

Lach snorted in response to the glare Adelheid sent him. He hadn't thought that they would hear him but now that the proverbial cat was out of the bag he could really make his feelings on the matter of clothes shopping felt.

'Well I guess I'll find somethin' ta do while you lasses see to yer dresses,' Lach said with a smirk.

'Oh no you don't,' Adelheid snapped, spinning on her heel to face him, her hands on her hips. 'Peter's going to make sure that you and Tom pick outfits that make you presentable for the ball at Shade. I will not have you traipsing around the academy in your sailor garb during the most important social event of the festival's proceedings.'

"Did she seriously just say traipsing?" Lach thought. "Did she seriously just say garb? Who actually talks like that?"

'It's a duty I relish,' Peter said, turning to give them a lopsided grin that looked bizarrely threatening. 'Oh I'm sure you'll appreciate the results once I'm done with you.' Lach noticed there was a joking tone to his voice but he still couldn't help but feel like Peter was getting some kind of enjoyment out of the situation.

Lach grimaced and took a step back from the boy. He swore that Peter was looking him up and down, analysing him and what he was wearing in preparation for whatever weird dress-up session he had planned.

"Running away is lookin' really temptin' about now," Lach mused as he followed after the group.

'And here we are,' Aurora suddenly said with a small flourish of her hands.

The group looked up to see a richly decorated department store tower of them. It was a massive high-rise with connecting bridges running across it and into other buildings that occupied the complex the store was a part of. A massive sign bordered by elegant golden symbols and flowing lines read "Milana."

'Lookin' really temptin' now,' Lach muttered as he drank in the sign and what it meant.

'Well come on everyone,' Aurora continued. 'This place is top quality. My family have patronised it for years now and they have yet to let us down.'

"Gods help me," Lach thought as he unwillingly followed his friends into the wealthy establishment, dread clutching at his innards as he passed through the security scanners on the doors and entered the building.

* * *

Greta felt incredibly nervous as she entered the store. The moment she had looked up at the Milana building she had realized that this store was a place for rich people to shop in. She had never been in any rich-only shops, the best she had ever actually visited being the general clothing stores that also offered expensive brands as well as the cheap ones. Now she was following her two wealthy teammates as they led her into the store.

The moment she stepped through the door she was awestruck by the building's interior. Like much of the Vale the exterior of Milana was a marriage of classical aesthetic and modern materials with a hint of post-modern design added in to accentuate the general theme. The inside, on the other hand, blew the outside attempts at old fashioned elegance out of the water.

"It looks like a ballroom," Greta thought as she tried to digest what was in front of her.

The building was painted white and gold with stately pillars holding up the decorated ceiling that loomed over. The ceiling was placed very high, higher than in any other shop she had ever visited, even in the massive malls of the Central Commercial District. Pieces of abstract art that Greta could not decipher the meaning of were painted onto the free spaces of the walls alongside framed pictures of products made by expensive sounding companies she had never heard of before. At the end of the main hall was a pair of elevator doors that led to a transparent glass tube that beautifully designed elevators smoothly rose and fell within. There were displays that had expensive looking outfits on them but there were no visible price tags and so Greta assumed they were not really for sale.

'Is this really a store?' Greta asked Peter after she moved to catch up with him.

'Oh I can assure it is,' Peter replied with a smile. 'The one's in Atlas that I have visited can be even more ostentatious than this. Milana is a popular chain though so I have visited some of their branches in the capital.'

'My mother has never really forbidden me from shopping here but she rarely has anything good to say about Milana,' Adelheid suddenly said. 'She has told me that some of the tailoring brands they import stock from abuse labour laws to exploit their workers, most of which are faunus.' The Schnee's girl's face was imperiously indifferent for the most part but Greta did catch the barest hint of a frown.

'Oh, I'm sorry,' Aurora said, looking shocked. 'I didn't know. We can go somewhere else if you prefer that.'

'No, no. It's not a problem,'Adelheid replied, waving the other girl's concerns away. 'If I refused to buy my clothes from a tailor who got their materials from exploited labourers I would be left naked. They all do it so there's no point protesting.'

Greta looked around the group and finally saw Rapture. Her faunus teammate looked uncomfortable but as far as she could tell it seemed to mostly be an issue of currently being in a very wealthy and obviously exclusive establishment. Greta couldn't blame her. She felt exactly the same way. Lach appeared to be on the verge of bolting altogether and even Tom looked overwhelmed by the size and decoration of the place.

'Ah welcome,' a voice suddenly said. Greta turned to see a woman in a sharp suit walk briskly up to them. Her outfit made her look like some kind of butler and her face was fixed in a professional smile. 'My apologies for making you wait. How can I offer you my service today?'

'My friends and I are currently looking to find appropriate outfits for a very important event in the coming Vytal Festival,' Aurora replied. 'I have my membership card here,' she held out a thin platinum card for the clerk who took and examined it, 'and these seven are accompanying me.'

'Ah Ms Basilikos,' the clerk said as she handed the card back to Aurora. 'It is a pleasure to receive you. Our entire staff would be honoured to answer any request you make of us. Please do not hesitate to call on anyone should you need anything from us.'

'Thank you,' Aurora replied with a nod and a small smile. She then waved everyone forward.

Adelheid, Peter and Elizabeth all strode behind her confidently. Greta could tell that they were very familiar with establishments like this and felt comfortable walking through it. That was more than could be said for herself and the others who all looked visibly nervous or uncomfortable as they ambled after their teammates.

There were other people in the building besides the well-dressed staff that swiftly walked back and forth between their various duties. Every one of the patrons appeared wealthy and there was a variety of ages but most of them were older adults. Most of them ignored their group though a few glances were drawn their way. Considering they were dressed in the hunting outfits it wasn't that surprising though Greta felt even more self-conscious when she looked at her largely second-hand clothing and compared them to the lavish clothes of the people who were watching.

It was then that she noticed that some of them wore expressions of disgust. Greta immediately turned to Rapture and saw that her teammate's face had hardened, a sign that she had noticed.

'Are you alright?' she whispered to Rapture.

'I'm fine,' Rapture replied in an indifferent tone. 'Besides, I think those looks are as much for you three as they are for me.'

'Yeah,' Greta sighed, visibly slumping.

'If they keep lookin' at us like this,...' Lach grumbled angrily at the judgemental looks. The rest of his threat went unsaid but everyone understood what he was trying to say.

'Come on,' Tom said, sounding as nervous as he looked. 'I'm sure we'll get this out of the way relatively quickly and then we can visit the rest of the town.

Sighing as a group, the four of them rushed to catch up to their other teammates. Peter had already called an elevator and was chatting amicably with Adelheid. Aurora and Elizabeth were also talking with one another and the atmosphere seemed pleasant. Greta couldn't help but notice how slow and careful their conversations were though. In school they were generally more relaxed when they spoke but here they were acting like they were speaking in class again.

"Do rich people have to act like that whenever they go outside?" Greta pondered. The idea of having to constantly and carefully watch your behaviour in public made her uncomfortable again.

She kept quiet throughout the ride up the elevator to one of the upper floors. She wasn't really paying attention to where she was going, the size and wealth of the shop sucking her in once again. She didn't even realise they had reached their destination until Rapture brushed against her as the rest of the group exited the lift.

'Alright,' Adelheid suddenly said as Great moved to catch up with the others. 'Here's how we will arrange everything. We will split up into two groups. Peter will take the boys to pick out their suit designs and get themselves fitted. We ladies will see to our dresses while they are doing that. We will meet at the cafe on the sixth floor in case either of our groups finishes early. Is that clear?'

Several affirmatives answered Adelheid though Greta's was little more than a grunt and a small nod. She felt nervous again as Adelheid's words sunk in. Dress fitting was something she had no prior experience with. All of her clothes had been bought second-hand and were picked based on the generic sizes that she knew would fit her. Tailoring a specific dress for herself was something she had never done before and it worried her.

'Alright gentlemen,' Peter said cheerily. 'Follow me. Aurora's told me where we need to go.'

He walked off, Tom and Lach following him. The moment the boys had rounded a corner she turned back to see Adelheid and Aurora talking to one another, Elizabeth standing nearby but not saying anything as the other girls finished discussing something.

'Now,' Aurora began, 'we're going to go over some samples and then see about some fittings. Normally we'd have to schedule a proper fitting but luckily for all of us, I'm a regular customer so we get priority.'

'Won't the boys have to wait to get on the schedule then?' Rapture asked.

'Please,' Aurora replied dismissively. 'The staff and cameras saw them walk in with me. They'll know to give them special focus as well.'

"What's the point in the rich even having these rules if they're not going to follow them?" Greta thought. "It makes no sense."

'So, um, how long will this take?' Greta asked. The more she learnt about what this shopping trip entailed the more uncomfortable she felt.

'It will take as long as it takes,' Adelheid replied with an annoyed frown. 'I know what you're thinking and I'm going to tell you now that the answer is no. Neither you nor Rapture will be getting out of this. You will stay for this fitting until all of our outfits meet the necessary standards.'

'Its just a school dance,' Rapture grumbled. 'Most of the people there will be in hand-me-downs and rentals.'

'Which is why it falls on us to make an actual effort,' Adelheid shot back.

'Indeed,' Elizabeth said, shocking Greta for the second time that day by agreeing with Adelheid. 'There's no point going if we don't _all_ look as good as we possibly can.' she then turned to fix Rapture and Greta with a look that promised a yet unknown kind of suffering if they disagreed. It was rather unnerving to be fixed by the stare of a girl Greta still wasn't sure was entirely sane.

'Perhaps we could find a spa or beauty parlour as well?' Aurora then added, unknowingly breaking the tension. 'It would certainly help knowing there are professionals to help with our presentation before we go to Vacuo.'

'Good point,' Adelheid said, a thoughtful expression on her face. 'I'm not sure if Vacuo would have any such establishments – at least that we would want to patronise – so we should see about getting realistic advice for when we need to prepare ourselves.'

'Gods help me,' Greta whispered as the full weight of what the other girls were talking about settled in.

'I hear you,' Rapture said, quietly Falling back to join her. 'What on Remnant will any of this actually achieve?'

'Turning us into dress up dolls,' Greta replied. "And I already use makeup." she added in her head.

'Well good luck with that,' Rapture said glumly. 'They can try to paint my scales any way they like but it won't do any good. I've tried.'

'Oh,' Greta floundered. 'I, um, I'm sorry to hear that.'

'What's to be sorry about,' Rapture asked. 'I got over it a long time ago. I would prefer we don't get dragged to see a beautician who'll just make me look worse in some attempt to somehow apply makeup to me that actually looks good.'

'Alright, girls,' Aurora then said from in front of them. 'Let's start picking out some samples.' she lifted an arm out and swept it out over the room they were now standing in. there were rows of mannequins, each of them dressed in a wide variety of different dresses, often with accessories added on. 'These are just a few of the basic designs they offer. We can pick out whatever we like and then go to the fittings once we've decided what we want.'

'What if we don't like them?' Greta asked.

'Well if you find anything you like about the outfits just call over one of the clerks, point it out and they'll get the individual accessory you want and you can put something together that way.' Aurora replied with a smile.

The girls immediately split off to check the wares in front of them. Greta found herself aimlessly wandering the aisles, idly checking out the clothing but only paying the minimum of attention. She felt scared and not a little lost in the maze of expensive finery and worried that at some point the staff or some other patron would take offense to her existing in the same store as them and ask her to leave.

She tried, on occasion, to distract herself by focusing on some of the items she glanced at. Aurora had said she could pick and choose whatever she wanted so she tried to keep track of some of the things that she passed but it was difficult. If she wasn't worried about the accessories not matching or looking ridiculous as she pictured the outfit in her head she was panicking at the price. Even if four of her friends were disgustingly rich she was sure they couldn't buy outfits for her, themselves and the others.

It was after what felt like an eternity that she bumped into Elizabeth who was being followed by a clerk that was weighed down by a massive pile of clothes and accessory items. Elizabeth initially glared at Greta and was about to snap a remark at her but she relaxed somewhat as she realised who she was talking to.

'What's wrong with you?' Elizabeth asked, still annoyed at having been run into even though no harm had come from it.

'Sorry,' Greta replied. 'I'm just not used to doing this. Do you know what I should do if I see something I like?'

'Just ask one of the staff to pick it up for you,' Elizabeth said with a shrug. 'That's what I've done. See?' She gestured to the woman standing behind her who was weighed down with potential purchases.

'Um, right,' Great replied, feeling uncomfortable about the whole affair again. 'Thanks.'

Elizabeth carried on, picking out whatever caught her eye as the clerk dutifully followed after her. Greta found herself lost in the maze of clothing once again, unsure of how to proceed. Where could she find a clerk and would she have the nerve to request one of them follow after her for the entire trip? Sighing, Greta returned to scanning the items the shop had to offer, wondering if it was worth just picking something quickly and getting the whole thing over with.

* * *

Peter Hamlin could not deny that he was having fun. Clothes shopping wasn't exactly a passion of his though he had learnt to enjoy it thanks to the constant fittings he had needed over his life as well as the dress-up sessions his cousins had forced on him. What he really enjoyed though was messing with his companions. He could tell that Lach Boucanier of Team TEAL was clearly exasperated by their trip and though he knew he shouldn't, Peter was getting pleasure from offering the other boy accessories and prolonging the visit.

'You know what?' he mused partially to himself and also to Lach who stood nearby impatiently. 'I don't think blue is really your colour, at least as a dominant theme. I think the traditional black was better for you.'

'Fine,' Lach groaned, irritated by Peter's fussing. 'Just make up your mind already.'

'Oh come on,' Peter casually shot back, trying to suppress a smirk. 'We need to be careful about what we think. The girl's will likely have our hides if we waste their time. You all saw how adamant they were in making sure we look the absolute best we can.'

'Does this have to take so long though?' Lach asked, trying not to whine as he spoke. 'They're all basically the same anyway.'

Peter suddenly span on is heel and fixed Lach with a glare, his hands on his hips and a frown on his face. He knew how Lach felt but he was now quite tired of the other boy's unhelpful attitude. The more he put up a fuss the longer the whole trip would take. It had been fun to mess with him and see what reactions he could get out of the sailor but the complaints were finally starting to grate on him.

'Would you rather we get the girls to do this?' Peter snapped. 'Because, believe me, as long as I'm taking with this, _they_ would drag this out for much longer.'

'No,' Lach replied, grimacing and looking away. Peter gave a fake smile and span around again, hearing Lach begin to grumble in compliant annoyance.

'That's good to hear,' Peter said, ignoring the mutterings from the other boy. 'Now,' he began to muse, 'I don't really think ties work for you. I think you're more of an ascot man really.'

He went to pick up several of the accessories. He had developed an eye for differentiating the various subtle styles of the cloth neckerchiefs over his short life. The various social events and the judging eyes of his parents and cousins had forced Peter to pick up a fashion consciousness which he now used to help dress his friends. Torturing them with the deliberations that were necessary when putting together an outfit were simply a side-benefit.

'Alright,' Lach suddenly said behind him, 'that's it. I'm leavin.'

'Tom hold him down,' Peter immediately commanded. He knew, despite having his back to both of them, that Tom had dutifully latched himself onto Lach and was holding him in place. Though the diminutive TEAL team leader wasn't likely to keep Lach where he was through actual force he wasn't going to face insubordination from his protective friend.

Peter turned back, several different dark-hued ascots in his hand. He found Tom had let Lach go but was standing behind him, a somewhat self-satisfied smirk on his head as he revelled in that fact that he had made someone so much bigger than him surrender to his demands. Peter felt happy for the other boy. It was good to see him have some moments of confidence and it showed that he, at the very least, had Lach's respect.

Lach thankfully didn't look as petulant anymore. He appeared to be rather resigned and simply stood in place, awaiting Peter's verdict. Peter could guess that the other boy was probably thinking about the amount of time it would still take for the outfit to be decided upon and then assembled.

"He's probably thinking "this is gonna take forever ain't it?" or something like that," Peter mused, imitating an over the top version of the sailor's rough accent.

'Probably,' Peter said aloud to Lach's unspoken question, immediately getting a surprised reaction from the boy.

'Wha…. How?' Lach stuttered as he realised the other boy had somehow read his mind.

'I was in your place once,' Peter explained, the smirk still on his face. 'You will learn to like it because, while I promised to be quick, we still have so much to do.'

* * *

Greta huffed and sighed as she walked out of the elevator. She had recently glanced at her scroll after finally being let out of the fitting rooms and had seen that she had spent over an hour in the small chamber getting measured and modelled by the precise and clinical attendants. It had been incredibly embarrassing and awkward and Greta prayed that she wouldn't be forced to shop for a custom-made dress with the other girls ever again.

She was walking next to Rapture who had a similar aura of exhaustion and embarrassment around her. Aurora and Adelheid looked far more composed and chatted casually with one another. None of them carried any bags which had initially confused Greta before Aurora had explained that the store's tailors would put the dresses they had selected together and that they would be checking on them in a few days. Greta had given up on trying to figure out how this trip was supposed to go work now and had just accepted it.

'You know,' Rapture said as they walked up to a section of the sixth floor that had a large sign reading "Tea Leaf" over it, 'I could really go for lunch right now.'

'Hear, hear,' Greta said in response. 'This is a cafe isn't it? We could pick something up.'

Together, they followed the other girls into a large room. To Greta, it looked less like a cafe and more like a restaurant with a bar and counter on one end and menus on large, spotless rounded tables that were covered in rich-looking tablecloths with wine glasses placed on them in front of every seat. There were several other clerks that were dressed in waiting uniforms that stood almost to attention, likely waiting for someone to call if the behaviour of the other staff was anything to go on.

On the other end of the room were several booths that were centred around large round tables that also had menus, plates and glasses set on them, waiting for customers. The seats were replaced by a conjoined, semicircular bench that was covered in plush, velveteen cushions. There was also a railing set over the top of the ceiling of the booth that had curtains on either side that were opened but could easily be drawn together, presumably for privacy.

In one of the booths sat Peter, Lach and Tom who were chatting somewhat casually, full glasses in front of them that they occasionally took sips from. Lach and Tom looked a lot more comfortable than they had when they first walked in but Peter still seemed to have the bizarre aura of easy formality that he, Aurora, Adelheid and Elizabeth had evoked since they stepped in Milana.

She walked over to their booth along with the other girls. The boys noticed them shortly before they arrived, Lach and Tom waving at them whilst Peter nodded in greeting. Great smiled and waved back but she didn't call out, worried that it would get the attention of the staff and make her look foolish.

'Hi guys,' she said when she finally walked up to the table and slid into the booth. 'How'd it go?'

'Uh, it took forever,' Lach groaned with a sigh.

'Agreed,' Tom said though he had a somewhat mocking smile. He huffed as well though it was more good-humoured.

'Preaching to the choir here,' Rapture said as she sat down, Greta nodding and humming in agreement.

'It would have been quicker if you stopped fussing and just let the staff take your measurements,' Adelheid said imperiously as she read through the drinks menu.

'I don't like stripping for strangers okay,' Rapture snapped. 'And your commentary while they did it didn't help.'

'Uh, Rapture,' Aurora said uneasily, 'boys are here. Do you mind not talking about that.'

Rapture snorted but sat back and grabbed one of the menus, a scowl on her face. Greta felt nervous. She didn't think the faunus girl was going to start a fight, especially in a high-end store that already had problems with her but the staff could be looking for any excuse to kick her out.

'So,' Peter said, leaning forward in his seat, 'have we all made plans for the Vytal Festival?' He gave a not so serious smile to the entire group. 'I can assume we're all planning to attend at least.'

Elizabeth snorted derisively at his comment and Adelheid rolled her eyes, both of them leaning back in their seats and crossing their legs at the same time. Lach nodded, having picked up his drink and put it to his lips when Peter asked. He hummed in acknowledgement when he was done.

'We've been working out a routine,' Tom said. 'Its a bit hard to find the time to set up strategies for everyone though.'

'Yeah,' Greta agreed idly as she scanned the drinks menu. She then set it down and looked at her fellow team leader. 'Team exercises are easy but the pairs stuff takes forever to coordinate.'

'But we have signed on,' Adelheid said. 'Hence the preparations.' She then paused and gave Tom a frown. 'You have signed us on haven't you?'

'Yes,' Tom shot back indignantly.

'I just wanted to be sure,' Adelheid said, averting her gaze but still keeping an imperious expression on her face.

'We've signed up too,' Greta said cheerfully. 'We're just waiting for confirmation.'

'Great ta hear,' Lach said to her. 'I wonder if the tournament lets teams from the same school fight each other?' He fixed Greta with a playful glare. 'Who d'ya think would win if we squared off?'

'Well we would,' Peter replied before Greta could say anything. 'Of course.'

'Is that so?' Elizabeth suddenly said, giving the boy a leer. 'Do you want to see if that's true?'

'Oh, I would be more than happy to give it a try,' Peter said in response.

'Right, so,' Greta began, ignoring Peter and Elizabeth and instead turning to address Tom again, 'do you know what's going to happen during the Festival?'

'Well we're going to be heading there before it actually starts,' Tom replied. 'From what I've read we have a dance to go to, our first missions and then the Festival actually starts.' He then gave her a quizzical look. 'I thought you'd have read the message we got. It was supposed to be required reading for leaders.'

'Uh,' Greta floundered. 'I just read the application instructions. I kind of skimmed the rest of it.'

'You, uh, might want to read the rest,' Tom then said. 'Professor Arc wrote that we're supposed to know what's in store for us.'

Um, yeah,' Greta mumbled. 'Thanks.'

'You're welcome,' Tom replied with a smile. He then turned to look at Elizabeth. 'Gods help us they're still going.'

Greta turned to see that Elizabeth and Peter were playfully challenging one another, listing off their abilities and stating how they made them superior to the other. Adelheid had, surprisingly, also joined in, arrogantly explaining how the improvements she had made in her glyph techniques would give her victory over everyone else.

She noticed Aurora turn to her with a smirk. 'Well they seem to be competitive enough for the tournament,' the dark-skinned girl said. A mortified expression then appeared on her face and she put her head in her hands. 'Gods help me I just sounded like my mother.'

Greta laughed at her friends antics and settled back down in her seat. She saw Rapture and Lach were quietly sitting and watching the others as well whilst Tom still worried over the drinks menu. It was then that she noticed that one of the waiters was standing near their table, patiently waiting for one of them to notice with a slightly worried look on his face that she seemed to be trying to cover up with professionalism. The waiter quickly realised that Greta had noticed his presence and lifted his head to look directly at her.

'Will you be ordering anything miss?' the waiter asked.

'Just coffee,' Greta replied, 'with sugar and milk, thanks.'

The others finally noticed that the staff had arrived and were taking their orders and settled down, several of them quickly rereading the menu to remind themselves of what they had planned to order. Greta relaxed in her seat as she watched her friends chat and give their orders. She found, despite the ordeal that dress fitting had been, that she was enjoying herself. She couldn't remember the last time she felt like this and hoped that she would get to have more days like this.

* * *

The Old Residential District of northern Vale was in turmoil. The massive district, which was larger than some cities, had turned into a warzone with thousands of police and paramilitary contractors mobilised to flush the criminal element out of the area. Despite the chaos the public had demanded blood and the Council had complied. The Red Fang were being hunted and, in the meantime, the overstretched police were taking the opportunity to legally gun down criminals without having to worry about bureaucratic redtape and moral questioning from the politicians and the public.

The Red Fang, meanwhile, had responded by abandoning their hideouts and fleeing deeper into the district. Many of them purposefully riled up the rival gangs in the areas they left in order to slow down the encroaching police. It was a terrible war of attrition based around a scorched earth strategy and the Red Fang were more than happy to see the district and its wretched inhabitants burn.

Now the entire organization had taken over a large retail complex that had been built to store goods. The warehouses were now filled with equipment and weapons, masked faunus walking back and forth as they gathered everything the organisation owned and depositing it in the large buildings. Other buildings in the complex had been turned into barracks for the Red Fang and a few had been haphazardly fortified to defend their new demesne. Guards were posted on the borders of the complex but they had been ordered to keep themselves inconspicuous. They had hidden themselves in the buildings and unmasked themselves to keep them from hindering their heightened senses.

On the edge of the warehouses sat a tall faunus woman with a dark complexion. She was noticeably young but held a lot of power in her athletic form. She was dressed in black trousers along with a white tanktop covered by a black half-shirt and wore a stylised, red mask depicting what could only be described as Grimm's face if it took the form of a tiger. Long ginger hair flowed out from behind the mask and down to her shoulders whilst a pair of ears covered in fur the same colour as her hair poked out of the top. She was Aanjay Laal and she was frustrated as she idly fiddled with her weapon and glanced over the few written reports she had been given.

Aanjay was technically the leader of the Red Fang despite her age but wasn't particularly interested in the minutiae of organising the faunus under her command. She had spent several minutes skimming over the reports before handing the majority of the paperwork to several of her subordinates. She had instead chosen to sit close to the guard-posts, hoping that something would happen.

She continued to tinker with the metallic mecha-shift box attached to her wrist when she noticed something on top of the few papers she still had in front of her. It was a sealed letter with a red stamp on the centre. Frowning, Aanjay reached down and picked it up. Holding it in front of her face she took a closer look at the stamp and saw it had the image of a claw and eye printed on it.

' _Beathas_ ,' Aanjay hissed scornfully. She knew in an instant that the letter was from her benefactors in the Elder Grimm Society. Sneering she ripped the envelope open and took the letter out to read it.

"Plans have been changed. We have an unexpected delay," the letter said. "Hold off on your activities until we give the signal. Maintain the war with the police however you see necessary but do not escalate further."

Aanjay scowled and seethed with barely suppressed rage. Gripping the letter she tore it up in her hands and threw the pieces down onto the ground in front of her before leaping out of her seat and heading towards the warehouses.

"The dirty, fucking human," Aanjay thought as she stormed through the doors of one of the warehouses. It was filled with boxes that were being shuttled around by faunus, either by hand or by forklifts they had managed to steal. "Who does she think she is giving us orders?"

Aanjay stalked through the maze of boxes until she found a large clear space at the middle. It had previously housed several trucks that their best engineers were trying to build concealable weapons into. Several had failed terribly and were now being cannibalised to outfit the ones that were left.

Crossing the space, Aanjay went over to a series of crates on the far side of the building. The few Red Fang personnel who were managing the boxes scattered as she approached except for one who froze in panic.

'Open the box,' Aanjay ordered, pointing to a crate behind the unfortunate faunus, a woman with antelope ears sticking from her head.

The antelope woman nodded nervously and then grabbed a crowbar, sticking into the side of the crate's lid she heaved and ripped the top off. She then dutifully stepped aside, shaking slightly as Aanjay stepped closer to her to look into the crate. She pushed aside the soft straw that the crate had been filled with and revealed what was held inside.

In front of Aanjay was a large Dust bomb, outfitted with both timed and remote detonator devices and an intensity limiter that could be switched on and off or altered. She grinned sinisterly as she looked at the weapon in front of her before turning to the antelope woman who, unfortunately had not run when the opportunity had been presented to her.

'Take this out and give it to Rojo,' Aanjay said. 'Tell him he can have three and pick whatever targets he wants.'

The antelope woman nodded and then ran off to find the man Aanjay had just named. Satisfied that she still inspired the appropriate amount of respect in her subordinates, she relaxed again. She didn't know exactly what Iseabal Beathas wanted but the Society woman had given her instructions and so she would interpret them to the best of her abilities.

'You want the war to keep going, Beathas?' Aanjay said quietly to herself, trying to imagine the woman's face in front of her. 'Alright then. I'll go to war.'

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Well here's the next volume of GRAP. Once again I would like to thank MS Void and Jed Rhodes for their continued and valued work as my proof/beta readers. If you want to see more of the GRAPverse check out BGDY and OBEE, their respective spin-off stories connected to GRAP.


	2. Chapter Two: Moving Forward

**Chapter** **Two** **:** **Moving Forward** **:**

 **October** **11** **th** **1462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

It was another one of these days where Greta reaffirmed her lifelong dislike of Wednesdays. It had all started when she had actually sat down and read the schedule for the Vytal Festival. Despite being made aware of the information on Saturday she had procrastinated until Monday and then panicked when she saw exactly what would be expected of her and her team while they were in Vacuo.

She had then learnt that Peter, at the very least, had been aware of all of this thanks to talking with Adelheid but hadn't told her. He had instead assumed that she had already gone over it all which meant that when she told Rapture and Aurora they had to prepare not just for a dance or the tournament but for their first practical mission as well the two girls had gotten annoyed at her for waiting so long to tell them.

Despite a part of her feeling tired of the topic at all she had then sat herself down to try to plan just how much stuff they would need to buy and prepare before they left. They needed enough ammunition, spare parts for their weapons and assorted Dust items to complete a mission and fight in the Vytal Tournament, possibly up to the finals if they were lucky. The others had already drawn up their lists which would require more shopping trips down in Vale. Then, on Tuesday, she had noticed the limits the school was placing on participants when it came to luggage which meant they now had to prioritise what they intended to take.

Team TEAL had spared them any snide comments at the very least, not that she had expected Lach or Tom to be mean to them. Adelheid and Elizabeth, whilst rather deriding at first, had been kind enough to help her out in deciding what was best to prioritise and what would be better off being left behind.

Classes, at the very least, hadn't been too stressful for her though finishing homework on top of quickly organising things for their visit to Vacuo had been a pain. Greta had thankfully managed to stay on top of her workload and had been told that the professors would begin to reduce it in a few weeks in preparation for the Vytal Festival.

"I could do with that happening sooner," Greta thought as she slumped into her seat. It was time for combat classes once again and she felt exhausted. She had gotten very little sleep the night before and she didn't know why, had gotten up late and rushed her morning shower in order to get breakfast and felt rather lost through the whole thing.

'You alright?' Rapture asked her from two seats away, noticing that Greta looked tired.

'Huh?' Greta grunted as she turned to look at her teammate. 'Oh, yeah, I'm good. Just tired.'

'You look really out of it right now,' Rapture continued, concern on her face.

'Are you feeling ill?' Peter asked from the seat next to her own.

'No, no,' Greta replied, waving her hands in dismissal. 'I just didn't get much sleep. I don't know why though.'

'Here,' Peter then said, reaching into his bag and pulling out a plastic bottle of water. 'I got this from the cafeteria. I was going to drink it in class but you could use it. It should help.'

'Thanks,' Greta said in response. She grabbed the bottle, feeling it was still chilled. The prickling cold sensation did jolt her into a more wakeful mood which was increased when she took a swig and felt the icy water slide down her throat.

'You're going to need to be awake for these classes,' Peter continued.

'Indeed,' Aurora added, looking far more attentive than the others. 'We may have signed on to the Vytal Festival already but we really can't let our performance slip.'

"Gods she sounds like Adelheid," Greta thought as she sat up in her seat and blinked rapidly to get the glassy feeling out of them. 'Don't worry I get it. Maybe if I get called up I'll feel more awake.'

The class then turned quiet as Professor Smith walked into the room, fussing with his bowtie a little as he walked on to the platform in the middle of the room. Greta tried to focus on him and she shook her head to try to shake the last of her fatigue away. Professor Smith stood in the middle of the ring, his stance relatively casual and looked up to address the class.

'Good morning everyone,' Professor Smith said. 'I'm glad to see you all made it today because I have an important announcement to make.'

Greta perked up as the professor continued. 'I want to tell you all that, starting next week, we will be altering combat classes.' Professor Smith paused for a moment and took a breath, looking in front of himself to see if everyone was paying attention.

'After this weeks lessons we will be changing the system from one-on-one combat sessions to team fights,' Professor Smith explained. 'The usual rules will be applied to these lessons of course but I will assessing you on your coordination, ability to cooperate and leadership skills. This will all be especially important for those of you who have applied to participate in the Vytal Festival Tournament.'

"Good thing we've already started practising then,' Greta thought.

'I would also like to say that those who have applied for the Vytal Festival will not be given priority,' Professor Smith then said. 'I expect you all to get by on your own merits. These new lessons will begin on Wednesday a week from today and I expect all of you, especially our representatives for the tournament to attend.'

Despite the professor's presence the room began to echo with surprised mutterings. Greta could feel both excitement and nervousness in the crowd of students. She looked to Tom to see he was rather stoic and thoughtful in appearance, likely mulling over how to approach the new lesson format. Greta herself was trying to think about how to approach the group-combat sessions.

"Well if it's a full team fight then this shouldn't be too hard," Great thought as she turned back to look at the stage. "We already have a routine down."

'Alright, alright,' Professor Smith then said. 'Settle down.' the class quickly quieted down again. 'Until then we will still be doing lessons the same way but on the first day we'll be doing things a little differently. Next Wednesday's class will be in the main auditorium with the other upper years. It will still be at the same time though.'

His announcement complete, Professor Smith then called out the first combatant who would get to pick their opponent. Greta, meanwhile, sat down and tried to not think too hard about hypothetical planning. She wasn't concerned about her team's abilities since they had been preparing for tournament style fighting for over a week now. Now she could redirect her effort to making sure that the preparations for the visit would go smoothly. Come what may next week, she and her team were already ready for it.

* * *

 **October** **1** **8** **th** **1462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

The first combat class of the week had everyone excited. Many students had gotten up early and prepared themselves carefully to see what exactly Professor Smith had in store for them. New team strategies had been planned, tested and refined by most of the student body and they were all ready to try them out on one another.

Greta felt somewhat the exception as while she had perfected her strategies and performed them with her team she wasn't as eager to test them just yet. She was instead hoping for the class to pass her by and focus on other students. Since the lesson was taking place in the main auditorium – which had set up temporary barriers for the potential combatants to safely fight – and also involved the upper years she was sure that she would be passed up for the large number of other teams that were present.

She had never seen the auditorium so full, even during her first day when the entire prospective freshman year had been present. The massive room was filled to capacity and then some by students that had come dressed in a wide variety of outfits. They all carried their weapons which made for a veritable arsenal that was on display. Greta wasn't a weapons nut or mech-head but she was still fascinated by some of the devices that the older students were carrying. There were some more obvious items that were some form of sword, gun, axe, or club but there were also devices that were less easy to figure out or discern.

The entire room echoed with the sound of teenage chatter as the students all discussed the current situation with one another. Some were speculating on what would happen, making playful bets on who would go up first and boasting about their own skills. Many of the upper years were derisively dismissing any year younger than them, claiming that they would probably be fighting one another or, if they did fight a younger year, that the experience would be both quick and boring.

'Anyone else beginning to have second thoughts about this?' Greta muttered to no-one in particular.

'I beg your pardon?' Peter said curiously from his seat beside her. 'I think you said something?'

'Oh no, no,' Greta replied. 'I'm just feeling a little nervous, that's all.'

'Well I can certainly understand that,' Peter said. 'I must say I'm a little unsure about our chances of taking on third or fourth years. Second years maybe but not anyone older than that.'

'Here's hoping we avoid that then,' Aurora then said, entering the conversation. She had to speak more loudly to make sure she was heard from her seat further down the row which drew a few looks from the people around them.

The crowd continued to talk even as the figure of Professor Smith finally appeared before them. He walked out of the alcove that most teachers entered the building through and calmly walked onto the main stage, stepping up before the microphone and then taking the time to adjust his bowtie.

'Alright that's enough,' Professor Smith, the noise in the room immediately quieting down by a significant percentage. 'We'll be beginning the lesson now.'

The first bout of the class was a terrifying spectacle for Greta. Two third year teams went onto the stage and laid into one another. The fight took a surprisingly long time and was disturbing as the older students showed off their skill and the massive gap between herself and them. Greta couldn't believe the kinds of moves the third years were pulling off and the coordination they exhibited. She felt her throat constrict a little as a dust-weaver let out a conflagration that bathed the transparent shields surrounding the stage in a bright yellow flare that caused the audience to either wince or avert their eyes.

"Please gods, don't force me to go up against that," Greta pleaded in her head, silently putting her hands together to try to strengthen her prayer.

The fight eventually ended when all of the members of a team had their Aura reduced to the red level. The winning team had also lost half their members in the fight as well and the stage, whilst undamaged, was covered in soot. The two teams walked off the stage, a couple nursing bruises or slight aches from blows that their Aura had not entirely repelled.

'Alright,' Professor Smith said as he returned to the microphone which had previously been retracted into the stage for the equipment's safety. 'A very good start from teams VRDN and PINK. Our next pair will be first year teams GRAP and SCLT. Please step on to the stage.'

Greta suddenly remembered what it felt like the last time she had stepped onto the auditorium's stage as her heart sank. It was their turn and whilst they weren't fighting upper years they were going to be performing in front of them.

'Well, what are the chances?' Peter said jokingly as he and the others stood up.

Greta sighed and then stood up. She didn't feel like she was about to burst into tears or tremble as she walked up to the stage but she was undeniably nervous. Even if the team they were about to fight was another first year group, they were going to be fighting in front of most of the student body now and judged by them accordingly.

She stood in line with her team, everyone standing to her left, Peter right by her side. Everyone was already settling into a combat ready stance, Rapture and Aurora bobbing on the balls of their feet as Peter stretched and limbered his fingers in preparation. Greta instead took a more stationary stance, holding Firebrand in its folded form as she waited for the signal to start.

In front of them stood their opponents, Team SCLT. Greta had never talked with any of them and didn't really think that her teammates had either. She also couldn't recall any of their fighting styles from class though she wasn't sure if that was because of them leaving little impression on her or because she often spaced out in those classes after the schedule had settled down.

In the middle of the group was a boy with messy brown hair that was brushed just enough to keep it out of his eyes. He wore a pair of dark jeans and a blue shirt that was covered by a slightly worn jacket. He wore boots on his feet and his right hand had a single fingerless glove on it. His eyes were brown and had a strange though not unfriendly look in them and he smirked as he looked her team up and down. In his hands was a bulky looking chainsaw that had visible barrels on either side of the body and a blade longer than one of his arms. He held it somewhat casually but his stance showed that he was ready to make a move at any moment.

'Yo,' he said simply, raising his free hand in a leisurely greeting, his smirk growing. 'Name's Scarlet Fumee, I'm in charge of this lot.'

He turned and indicated to the three girls who stood next to him. One of them, a girl with light blonde hair and with two small mouse ears sticking out of her head smiled shyly and waved in greeting. The other two girls simply nodded instead.

'Hello,' the mouse-eared faunus girl said, her tone a little hesitant. 'I'm Camilla Blanc.'

Camilla was a rather short girl with blonde hair that reached halfway down her back. She wore a long white one piece dress that had been adjusted to work as a combat-skirt that was covered over by grey uniform-style jacket. There was also a rather long scabbard attached to the belt that was placed over the waistline of her dress. Her shoes were closer to boots in appearance though and she wore tights over her legs. The entire outfit was simplistic and modest which seemed to fit her rather shy stance. She held a broadsword in her right hand that had a rotating Dust chamber incorporated into the hilt.

'Lynn Kimba,' the next girl said simply. Her face was locked in a rather indifferent expression as she scanned the stage and the team in front of her.

She was a girl of average height with a dark tan and hazel brown eyes that had a somewhat indifferent expression reflected in them. Her hair was dark and extended down to her shoulders with a pair of bangs at the front. She wore a pair of dark trousers with black, knee-high boots on top of them and a white shirt that stopped just short of her waist, leaving a small portion of her midriff visible. A long, black overcoat covered the rest and reached down to her ankles but was left open and swept behind her arms which were placed loosely on her belt. A pair of holstered pistols were visible as well, close to her hands.

'I'm Tsuna Yurei,' the last girl said in a friendly tone. 'It's nice to actually meet you.'

She was a rather tall and slightly lanky girl with tousled blonde hair that reached just past her shoulder blades and was held back at the front by a simple brown headband. She wore a greenish brown shirt covered by a sleeveless jacket and a dark combat skirt that reached down to her knees. She also wore boots that went up past her ankle and had visible steel caps at the end. Like Camilla, the ensemble was rather simplistic and modest but appeared sturdy as well. She had a long rifle with an axe blade on the bottom of the end of the barrel resting on her shoulder.

'I'm Greta Hexenpfahl,' Greta said in return and her teammates introduced themselves as well. 'This is a little intimidating isn't?' she then said, trying to ignore the crowd.

'Oh no,' Scarlet replied, his smirk turning into a grin and his weapon rising up into a guard position. 'I've been looking forward to this all day.'

'Alright, everyone,' Professor Smith said as he stepped off of the stage. With the click of a button the shields went up around the stage again. 'Now that we're all ready you can begin. You will fight until the entirety of one team has their members' Aura reduced into the red band.'

Not a single word was spoken as both teams charged at one another. Aurora immediately leapt back and span Dark Majesty around to target Scarlet who was barrelling down on the team, his chainsaw already turned on and revving angrily. Rapture folded Long Claw out, the gauntlets coming on just in time to block a swipe from Camilla's sword. Rapture snarled and activated the blades, extending them out to catch the blade and keep Camilla from pulling back. A tug of war ensued as Camilla tried to pull back and Rapture worked to keep the other girl close and in range of her fists.

Peter immediately teleported to the other end of the stage, bypassing the other team and appearing behind Tsuna who had also leapt back, her rifle raised to take shots at Team GRAP. Tsuna managed to notice and spin around just in time to take a hit from one of Peter's Adagios. She managed to recover but was immediately on the defensive as Peter began a graceful dance of blades and kicks that she struggled to block or deflect. Peter moved like a dancer as every strike and movement bled into the next one to ensure he never wasted a second.

Greta, meanwhile, had run at Scarlet. The other team leader grinned as he charged at her only to duck aside as a shot from Aurora just barely missed him. Greta saw Lynn, who had also been in the path of the shot also dodge just in time and the Dust round exploded harmlessly on the stage floor behind the fight.

'Come on baby,' Scarlet said as he rolled back into an attack stance and ran at Greta. 'Give me a reason to try hard.'

Greta span around, bringing Firebrand up to counterstrike the chainsaw that was being swung at her. Just as she was about to finish her swing and clash with Scarlet, she pulled Firebrand's trigger and blasted him with a shrapnel round. Scarlet was thrown off balance as his Aura took the brunt of the shot and his chainsaw went off course. Great extended Firebrand out and swung it over her head like a quarterstaff, bringing it down on Scarlet's head. Suddenly his chainsaw came up and blocked Firebrand. Struggling, Greta tried to hold her ground as Scarlet pushed her back and twisted Firebrand down and around until the tip of his chainsaw blade was pointed at her.

'Boom!' he then shouted and pulled another trigger. The two barrels attached to the chainsaw fired, sending a pair of shotgun Dust shells into her face. Greta was sent flying backward from the force and crashed onto the floor of the stage. Scarlet ran forward to hit Greta again but was forced to twist out of the way of a shot from Aurora, the round just missing him.

Greta looked to see Peter was being double-teamed by Lynn and Tsuna. Tsuna was trying to hit Peter with her axe but he would constantly either dodge or teleport out of the way. Lynn had drawn her pistols, which it seemed had blades on the ends of the barrels, and alternated between shooting at him and thrusting with the blades. Neither girl was landing a hit on him but Peter was also struggling to strike them instead and was twisting his body as much as he could to keep out of the path of their shots and strikes. Peter blocked a strike from Tsuna's axe by crossing his Adagios in front of him, a scowl of exertion on his face as he tried to keep the weapon from actually touching him. Lynn smiled as she aimed her pistols at him only for Peter to suddenly teleport away, leaving Tsuna overbalanced and trying to right herself. He then appeared behind Lynn. Swinging both blades savagely. He rained blows down on Lynn, alternating his swings and walking forward to force her away from him.

Rapture had finally lost her grip on Camilla's sword and was trying to hit her but the girl had revealed her semblance, a form of telekinesis, which she was now using to catch and repel Rapture's blows. Rapture, in return, was dodging Camilla's attempts to give return strikes, trying to exploit the possible distractions these attacks offered in order to try to punch through the girl's barrier. Camilla then took a leap back from Rapture and swept her hand up grandiosely, a determined look on her face.

Rapture was hit by a burst of energy, forcing her back, her shoes squealing on the floor as she tried to brace herself. Her face stuck in a grimace, Rapture opened her mouth and let loose with her semblance. A loud roar echoed through the room, jarring everyone and hitting Camilla with a blast of compressed air. Camilla's concentration broke and Rapture immediately charged forward, crashing into the other girl.

Greta meanwhile had to roll out of the way as Scarlet made a brutal swing at her as she was prone on the ground. Aurora was still lining up shots onto him but he seemed to move to erratically for her to aim properly. With Greta still on the ground Scarlet smirked again and aimed his chainsaw at her. He fired off another pair of shots, forcing Aurora to dive out of the way. The threat to him now distracted, Scarlet returned his attention to Greta.

Greta lashed out at Scarlet's legs barely a second after he had fired at Aurora. Firebrand, still in its folded form, struck Scarlet's shin just as he turned to look at her. Scarlet let out a cry of pain as he felt the impact on his leg even through his Aura.

Rapture had collided with Camilla whilst this was happening and grabbed the girl. With a grunt she lifted Camilla up and threw her at Scarlet. The other girl squeaked for a second as Rapture held her over her head and then tossed her at the other boy. Camilla hit Scarlet hard and the two of them were thrown to the floor, landing on the floor in a disoriented pile, their limbs splayed in all directions.

'Aurora,' Greta barked, 'use a high impact round. Electricity Dust.'

Aurora took the clip off of her sniper rifle and slotted in a new one, drawing back the bolt in one fluid motion. She aimed and fired at the two downed members of Team SCLT as they tried to stand back up. Scarlet and Camilla were engulfed in a ball of lightning that crackled over the stage for several seconds before dissipating. When it cleared both of the other students were slightly charred but still in the fight.

'Rapture,' Greta then said. 'You're with me. We've got to take them out quickly. Aurora get in close with us, both of them are good against ranged attacks.'

'What about Peter?' Rapture asked.

Greta looked over to see her partner still tying up Lynn and Tsuna, desperately spinning and pirouetting desperately to keep them at bay. He was on the defensive again and this time the girls were pressing the advantage though they still hadn't managed to actually hit him. He executed a series of strikes that saw him move almost at a blur as he dodged one attempted blow after another and then teleported out of both girls' ways in order to appear behind Tsuna and deliver a vicious kick to the back of her neck. This, unfortunately left him open to another volley of gunfire from Lynn who advanced on Peter, forcing him to keep moving to narrowly avoid her shots.

'He'll be fine,' Greta said. She then extended Firebrand into its fire-pike form and charged forward.

They set upon Scarlet and Camilla as the two of them were finally getting up and reorienting themselves. Greta struck first, hammering Scarlet in the chest with Firebrand's haft which was followed up by a right hook from Rapture that sent him back onto the floor.

Scarlet, however, despite being dazed by the attack, wasn't helpless anymore. Rolling as he hit the ground, he brought his chainsaw up again and fired both barrels in Greta and Rapture's direction. With both girls still close to one another after attacking him, they received the full force of the shot together. As they reeled from the dust rounds, Camilla gathered herself and hit them with her semblance. Greta and Rapture were viciously shoved by a wave of force that sent them flying back.

'Uh, where's Aurora?' Greta groaned as she lay on the floor, trying to push herself back up with her hands.

Her question was answered by the sound of a single loud gunshot firing. A second later Camilla was hit in the side of the head by a swift flying kick. Aurora had flown across the stage, Dark Majesty having been switched into its glaive form. The blade was pointed behind her, the gun-barrel of the rifle form still deployed, situated in the head of the haft behind the blade.

"Di… did she just use her recoil to give herself a boost?" Greta pondered for a moment as she saw Camilla crumple under the strike from Aurora's shoe.

Both girls crashed onto the ground and rolled. Camilla came to a halt completely stunned and unmoving. Her Aura had also finally fallen into the red band and she was officially taken out of the fight. Aurora, on the other hand, managed to control her roll and came up again in a crouch, Dark Majesty still in her hands and pointed out to her side. She directed the blade at Scarlet and pressed down on the trigger still present on the haft. A shot fired from the barrel but Scarlet once again demonstrated his inexplicable ability to dodge his opponent's fire.

Rapture then charged forward and, with a loud roar, tackled Scarlet. The boy was, unfortunately, unable to avoid Rapture and was wrapped in her arms as she bore him down to the ground. Hitting the floor hard, Scarlet was left prone with Rapture looming over him in a mount position. She then proceeded to pummel him with her fist, one punch after another raining down on him.

It felt like it had taken a painfully long time for Rapture to finish beating Scarlet into submission but his Aura finally dropped into the red band and he was taken out of the fight. The faunus girl stood back up, breathing heavily and wiped her hand down her face, grimacing as she realised she hadn't folded her gauntlets up and had scratched at her own face.

'Gods his Aura was tough,' Rapture said.

'What about the others?' Aurora suddenly asked. All three of them turned to the other side of the stage to see what had happened to Peter.

Peter was still holding his own but both of the other girls were still in the fight. He looked flustered but also undamaged and a quick glance at his Aura showed that he hadn't actually sustained much damage to it. Greta even guessed that the drainage it had suffered was probably from using his semblance rather than blocking any hits.

'Back him up,' Greta ordered. 'We might as well finish this quickly.'

Aurora took action first, switching Dark Majesty back into its sniper-rifle form and firing at Tsuna who was trying to hit Peter and getting all of her attacks parried by him. Aurora fired and managed to hit Tsuna in the back of the head. The girl dropped to the floor and her Aura descended into the red. Groaning, she managed to sit back up again but knew she was done and resigned herself to simply watching the end of the fight.

'Alright,' Greta said brightly to Rapture as they ran to support Peter. 'Just one more to go.'

Lynn had noticed the situation she was in but decided to keep fighting. Most students would have surrendered but it seemed Lynn had resolved herself and made the choice to go down swinging in defiance. Unfortunately, without support, she now had Peter's undivided attention.

Peter became a whirlwind of blades as he leapt at Lynn, teleporting behind her when she tried to fire her guns at him and delivering a kick to the back of her head. Dazed, Lynn fired a spray of bullets where he had come from only to find Peter had spun out of the way and was positioned on the other side of her body, spinning on the spot, his blades held out. The first Adagio struck her in the shoulder, knocking her off balance and the second struck in the chest which was now exposed. Peter stopped his spin and lifted a leg up high and then brought his heel down hard on her collarbone, forcing her down to the ground and winding her.

'And Lynn Kimba has fallen into the red taking Team SCLT out of the fight and leaving Team GRAP the winners,' Professor Smith said as a buzzer went off and the shields dropped. 'Thank you for a good display of skill. Would Teams OPAL and PUCE now come onto the stage please.'

Greta walked off the stage, feeling somewhat worn out from the fight. She did her best not to flop into her seat but did let out a fatigued sigh and lean back, letting her head loll slightly until it began to ache from the awkward position. Sitting up straight, she leant forward and put her head in her hands, ready to tune out the rest of the lesson.

"Well that could have gone so much worse," Greta thought despite her efforts to just relax. "But did I do that well? We barely talked or coordinated, we just picked targets."

Greta sighed, annoyed with herself and the fact that, whether she liked it or not, she was going to have to improve their training regimen again and develop their teamwork. The Vytal Festival and Tournament were getting closer and she had finally decided they were going to win it, now she needed to put in the effort.

* * *

The class finally ended after three more bouts. Professor Smith didn't offer criticisms or advice but he was making notes and a few students were able to read his expressions figuring out, at the very least, whether or not they had done a good job or a bad one. When the professor dismissed the class, everyone filed out of the room, the chatter conveying a mixture of thoughts and opinions on the lesson.

'Well that was certainly interesting,' Peter mused as Team GRAP walked out of the auditorium, getting Greta's attention.

'Sorry, what?' Greta asked.

'Oh nothing really,' Peter replied. I was just commenting on the lesson.

'I thought it was interesting too,' Aurora added. Greta turned to see a thoughtful expression on the dark-skinned girl's face. 'So,' she then said, turning to look at Greta, 'Greta, are we going to be changing our schedules again?'

'Uh, probably,' Greta replied. 'I haven't really figured anything out yet though.'

It was then that another group of students walked forward from the crowd. Greta didn't recognise them from any of her classes and hadn't seen them go up to fight on the stage. They carried themselves with a lot of confidence and swagger and the leader, a heavily armoured boy with brown hair and a broad figure, wore a large mask that covered the bottom half of his face and had several moving parts that looked like a respirator.

'Peter,' the boy said jovially, giving Greta's partner a wave in greeting. His voice sounded strange, loud but with an artificial tint to it, as if it was reverberating.

'Jedd,' Peter replied with a cheerful smile. 'It's good to see you again. How are you?'

'I'm fine thanks,' Jedd replied. 'I was certainly impressed by how you did on the stage there.'

'Oh thanks,' Greta said, seeing that a conversation was probably going to begin. 'Um, uh,' she floundered, now feeling lost. 'Who are you?'

'Ah,' the boy, Jedd, exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. 'I,' he said in a loud and somewhat bombastic tone, 'am Jedediah Nechten, leader of Team JETT, first and finest of the second years.'

Greta looked to the other members of his team, seeing two other boys and a girl. The girl had dark skin, white hair and a long, glittering silver dress with a long slit on one side that led from the hem up most of her left leg, presumably to allow greater mobility. One of the boys was the exact same size as Jedd and had a similar bodyshape. Greta thought for a moment whether or not his face looked similar to the parts of Jedd's that she could see. This boy was dressed in a rather simple outfit with a long overcoat covering a leather shirt and trousers. The last boy was a giant with darkly tanned skin, incredibly broad shoulders and thick muscular arms. He wore a pair of red trousers and a shirt that had been left open most of the way, exposing a muscular chest. A round mask that would have encompassed his entire face was also raised and lay over the top of his head, ready to be pulled down at a moments notice.

'Hi,' the girl said with a confident smile on her face. 'I'm Egeria Patch, this dumbass' partner.'

'Egeria,' Jedd growled, glaring at his partner.

'Tobias Nechten,' the first boy said, his expression looking somewhat bored. He did wave in greeting but seemed disinterested in meeting anyone. 'Most call me Toby, I don't care if you do.'

'I am Thaba Trahern,' the giant boy said, nodding his head and introducing himself in a tone similar to Jedd's.

'Nice to meet you,' Greta replied. 'I'm Greta Hexenpfahl, uh, the leader of Team GRAP, though you probably all saw us on stage earlier.'

'Yes we did,' Jedd said. 'And a fine display you made. You left a good impression on this class and will probably get more attention because of it.'

'Um, great,' Greta said in response, trying not to groan as she thought about what it might mean for older Huntsmen and Huntresses to find her interesting. "Gods help me," she thought, fixing a desperate smile to her face.

'Oh yes, it is great,' Jedd replied, his cheeks rising over the top of his mask to indicate that he was smiling. 'As I've said before,' he began.

'Oh not this again,' Egeria mumbled, rolling her eyes.

'Impressions are the first thing you have to consider in this place,' Jedd continued. 'Once you've established a reputation you then have to defend and improve it. I set out to make this team the finest of our year, no matter what year we are in, and I have done so. Our team rose from anonymity to the heights of notoriety.'

'Really?' Rapture asked. 'We've never heard of you. In fact needing to introduce yourselves to us kind of ruins the whole notoriety thing.'

Jedd raised an eyebrow in response and his cheeks relaxed. The rest of the team also looked rather surprised at Rapture's point, or at least the logic behind it. Even Egeria and Toby, despite their previous disparagement of their leader's attitude, looked a little annoyed at what Rapture had just said.

'So I guess these means more "trying harder" then?' Toby asked sardonically, turning to address Jedd.

'Yes,' Jedd shouted with bombast before beginning to chuckle, the mask making the noise sound a little unsettling.

'So who's ass are we gonna kick to prove we're better this time?' Egeria asked. 'Team VRDN looked like they were trying to move in our turf with their performance.'

'I would recommend Team VILT instead,' Tabha said, finally speaking for the first time since his introduction. 'Victor has been talking about knocking us all down a peg for a while now.'

"Are all second years like this?" Greta pondered in her head as the other team continued to banter. 'So are you guys going to be in the tournament?' she then asked.

'Oh certainly,' Jedd answered enthusiastically, breaking away from the other conversation. 'We wouldn't miss this opportunity for the world. The first Vytal Festival Tournament in thirty years, and in Vacuo no less, who wouldn't want to take part in such a historic occasion.'

'Good point,' Greta conceded.

'Well if you are as good as you say you are,' Peter suddenly cut in with a smirk. 'I hope we don't have to go up against you.'

'Oh trust me,' Toby then said with a leer, 'we are.'

'Well it was nice meeting you,' Greta began looking at her scroll as a small beeping signal went off, 'but we had a meeting scheduled. 'I hope we run into one another again.'

'Sure, sure,' Jedd said, his hands up and an understanding look in his eyes. 'We'll definitely see more of one another in these classes. Who knows, we might finally get a chance to show you all what we're capable of.'

'Here's hoping,' Peter replied.

'Come on guys,' Greta then said, nudging Peter's arm. 'TEAL's already left. They're probably at the training ground already.'

The two teams said their goodbyes and then left the auditorium. By this point most of the teams had left the building and so the halls and corridors were empty as the students had moved on to wherever they had planned to go after the class was over.

'Well they seemed nice,' Greta commented as they walked out into the courtyard. 'Where'd you meet them?'

'I only met Jedd and Egeria,' Peter said as he walked up to her side. 'I ran into them in the music-room during the thing with Rapture.' He then trailed off awkwardly and glanced at Rapture. The faunus girl, already listening to what he was saying and noticing his look shrugged.

'If we're lucky, I guess we'll get to see how they do in class,' Aurora pointed out. 'Maybe we'll pick up some pointers.'

'If they're anything like the other upper years we saw we've got a lot to learn then,' Peter added.

'You're right,' Greta sighed. 'Gods help us this is going to be hard.'

'Come on,' Rapture said in response. 'We're training to be Huntresses, and a Huntsman in Peter's case, and applied for the Vytal Festival Tournament. What part of that doesn't scream extra effort?'

'You're right,' Greta repeated herself as they headed off the campus and in the direction of the nearby woods where Team TEAL had set up their impromptu training ground. 'Well we'd better get started then.'

* * *

Benedict Cache had never felt more nervous in his entire life. He had done many questionable and outright illegal things since he met Iseabal Beathas. He had stolen secrets, broken the confidence of people who relied on him to advice them spiritually and helped Iseabal's supporters gain advantageous positions in the government. What he was about to do, however, was a new and terrible line that he was being told to cross.

Now he stood in Councilman Li's office, waiting for his appointment with the politician. Li Meng was one of the prominent members of the Council and had nearly won two seats in their entirety. He had also collected his fair share of scandals over the years, some manufactured and others genuine. Benedict had listened to Meng's concerns whenever he called for him and had done his best to assuage the man's fears whenever the topic of his own conscience and the judgement of the gods came into the Councilman's mind.

"I need to be inconspicuous," Benedict thought. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small digicard. It had been nearly a month since Iseabal had given him the card and the important mission that came with it.

Clenching his fist, he then pocketed the digicard again and sat down in the visitor's chair in the office. He needed to do this quickly but he also needed to give the card time to break into the government servers. The moment the program was in it would be almost impossible to find and would even be able to penetrate the CCT servers and spread even further. Getting the program in, however, would require time.

"The desk would be too obvious," Benedict pondered, keeping a calm expression on his face as he thought. "Li keeps his scroll and combook on his person at all times and the digicard would be too obvious attached to them anyway."

Benedict glanced at the clock as he went over his options. Meng was late but that wasn't abnormal when it came to their meetings. As a high ranking Councilman he was incredibly busy and would always prioritise his work. Benedict wondered if Meng really valued their talks or if it was just a placebo for his conscience. He was quite sure that it was the latter really, few politicians really took spiritual advice that seriously, instead using it for psychological assistance or for personal relations reasons.

"The desk is my only option," Benedict decided, rubbing his face in exasperation. "I'll have to find a place to hide it where I can easily retrieve it when we're done."

He looked over the desk, maintaining his composure so that the room's cameras didn't pick up any suspicious activities. The desk was largely clean and clear with the exceptions of a couple of orderly stacks of papers and a few framed photos.

"He rarely moves the photos," Benedict thought as he leaned back in the chair. "It would probably be best to place it behind them. He probably won't notice it there."

The cameras were still on him though so he couldn't just reach forward and touch the desk while he was on his own. Instead Benedict sat down to wait for Meng to arrive and start their conversation. Then he could make his move.

Five more minutes went by with Benedict remaining in his silent introspection before the sound of the doorknob turning brought him out of his thoughts. Benedict turned to see the door opening and a new figure entering the room. Councilman Li Meng was a man of average height and eastern complexion, a holdover of his Mistrali ancestry. His hair was dark and cut professionally short and his eyes were sharp and striking. The Councilman was dressed in a plain dark suit with a red stripe along the hem of the collar of the jacket and a dark red tie as the only forms of personal ornamentation.

His middling years were apparent in the lines on his face but on the whole he appeared strong and energetic and he had a calm presence when he was in a room. To Benedict he had been a man perfect at projecting capability without standing out too much, a brilliant combination for a politician.

'I'm sorry for being so late Benedict,' Meng said casually as she shut the door behind him. 'I was held back by some of the other chair holders.'

'It's no problem Meng,' Benedict replied, addressing the Councilman informally. It often helped with the atmosphere of their discussions. 'Now,' he continued as Meng walked across the room and saw down in the large leather chair behind the desk, 'how can I help you today?'

Meng sighed, bowing his head a little and then rubbing his eyes in frustration. When he uncovered his face Benedict could see there was a tiredness in the other man's eyes. His posture had also dropped and he appeared so much more vulnerable and fatigued.

'You obviously know about the proverbial war going on in the Old North of Vale don't you?' Meng asked though Benedict could tell it was rhetorical.

'Yes,' Benedict replied, nodding a little and putting on a look of mild concern.

'Well the Council is already debating the continuation of the police's deployment in the area,' Meng continued. 'It's been a month since we began and there's been barely a glimpse of the Red Fang. The costs of this campaign are already astronomical but,...'

'The people still want you to continue,' Benedict interrupted, seeing where the conversation was going. 'Don't they?'

'The polls last week say that the majority of the population still support the purge of the district,' Meng replied. 'I, however, am concerned about the casualty rate that's already present. There have also been reports of Grimm concentrations increasing along the border nearby.'

'I understand,' Benedict said in response. He had been told confidential information before and knew how to talk around it.

'I'm sure you've already guessed what I'm about to ask,' Meng continued. 'I've heard every argument presented about this conflict and I've deliberated the topic of the war but I have yet to make an actual decision. I want to hear your opinion on this matter. What do you think the gods would have to say about this?'

'Well Meng,' Benedict said, leaning forward and putting his hands on the desk. As he did this he placed the digicard on the surface, behind the picture frames. He kept his hand in that position to cover the card and make his movements seem less suspicious. 'The world of politics is something that religion normally doesn't work that well within anymore. These kinds of situations, however, are much more pertinent. The gods would normally tell men like you to avoid hasty conflict, such actions, as you said, bring down the Grimm upon us.'

Meng nodded, his eyes shut and a contemplative look on his face. Benedict wondered what higher power was guiding him this day as he pulled his hands back but realised that the digicard was still safe from notice. His body was obscuring the little device from the camera and Meng's choice of stance left him blind to what was going on.

'I would have to say,' Benedict continued, thinking carefully about the correct response, 'that you listen to your conscience. The gods guide us through such things and if you truly feel such doubt around this war then you should oppose it. The people may not like it but the gifts the gods gave you ensured your position and it is your responsibility to act on the people's behalf even if they do not know your decisions are to their benefit.'

'I see,' Meng said. 'Thank you Benedict. I needed something like that.'

'My purpose is to guide those in need,' Benedict replied with a smile. He felt terrible about what he was doing but he needed to complete his task.

'Yes, well,' Meng then continued, his composure becoming somewhat impatient, 'thank you for the advice. I'm sorry that this meeting has to be so short, especially since I was so late. I just needed a little bit of extra assistance on this matter.'

'No I understand perfectly,' Benedict replied. He got up out of the seat and as he rose he feigned stiff joints to let him grab at the desk. As he pulled himself up he lifted the digicard out from behind its hiding place and then pocketed it when he put his arms back down by his sides. Throughout the entire action he only put a grimace of exertion to make his act more convincing.

'Thank you my friend,' Meng said. 'I'll call you for my next appointment soon.'

'I will keep an ear out then,' Benedict said in response. 'I hope I've been of some help today.'

'Yes, I hope you have a good day,' Meng finally said, a politician's smile on his face. He then swept his arm forward, indicating the door to Benedict.

Benedict bowed and then turned towards the door, opening it and exiting the room. Though he kept his usual calm expression on his face, Benedict felt ill inside. He had never done anything this severe, this treacherous before. He had done countless acts that would qualify as treason in the past few months but this was the worst. Now Iseabal had access to all of the government's secrets and he knew full well what she would use them for.

The thought of Iseabal changed his mind from guilt to a perverse excitement as he realised that succeeding in his mission meant he would finally get his reward as well. Sighing at the turn his thoughts had made, Benedict began to walk out of the Council Building. Iseabal should have received access to Meng's server and would be coming to visit him soon and he needed to prepare for her arrival.


	3. Chapter Three: Suspicions Part One

**Chapter Three: Suspicions Part One:  
** **October 25th** **1462 of the Vytali Calendar:  
** 'Okay,' Greta said confidently as she and her team walked into the auditorium for class, 'we've got this all planned out. Team battles are going to be easy now. It doesn't matter who we get set against, we can do this.'

'We're quite aware of that,' Aurora replied with a confused look on her face as they all walked to take their seats. 'We have been training with you as well.'

'I know,' Greta added her confident look suddenly appearing more strained. 'I'm just trying to remind myself that so I don't look terrified through the whole thing.'

'Your confidence in us is inspiring,' Peter drawled, rolling his eyes as he took his seat.

'Oh no I believe in all of you guys,' Greta said in response as she sat down as well. 'I've seen you all fight. It's me I'm worried about.'

The past week had been rather difficult for Greta as she tried to figure out a way to coordinate Team GRAP better. She had developed a few strategies and worked on them with her teammates but she kept running into a problem, herself. Her fighting style was the most awkward to incorporate into any team strategy. Firebrand was a slow, short-range, melee weapon that clashed with Peter's manoeuvrability, Rapture's brawling style and Aurora's ranged weaponry. A few things had been worked out thankfully but Greta was still nervous about her prospects after a week of struggle, especially with all of the fine-tuning she still needed to work on. A small part of her even felt like just giving up as it didn't seem worth the effort.

'Really?' Rapture asked, exasperated. 'Are we still on that?' The faunus girl's demeanour then became a lot calmer and more conciliatory. 'We've been over, you're not doing badly. We all worked on this and you're just fine. We've all done a bad job at working with one another and we can all improve. We have improved.'

'And you might even get a chance to prove it,' Peter then added as he smiled at Greta.

'Yeah,' Greta said, sounding tired, 'yeah.'

The rest of the class, which once again consisted of students from all four years, filed in and took their seats. Most of the attendees even took the seats they had occupied the week before, the unofficial demarcations already made and respected by the class at large. It took some time but eventually the entire auditorium was filled and echoed with the sounds of conversation as the students chatted amongst themselves, waiting for the class to actually begin.

It didn't take long for Professor Smith to arrive, this time with Professor Glas in tow. The two men took to the stage and the class quieted as they realised that it was time for them to start paying attention. She thought, for a moment, how strange the engineering teacher looked cleaned of soot and without his apron. He still had the friendly smile he normally wore and heavily contrasted Professor Smith's more dour appearance, only accentuated by the more sombre attire Smith wore today, as well as the short goatee he was growing.

'Hello and welcome to your second shared class,' Professor Smith said into the microphone. 'Today I would like to inform you all that as of next week you will be receiving an opportunity to attend extra combat classes like this. They will be no different than these ones and you will all receive a timetable on your scrolls after this class is finished.'

Greta turned to her teammates and saw calm but expectant looks on their faces. They likely thought attending the extra classes would be a good idea. Greta struggled not to sigh in frustration at the thought of more lessons and decided to look into it. She knew that they were supposed to be putting in the effort, going the extra mile in order to actually qualify for the Vytal Festival Tournament but a childish part of her still wasn't enthusiastic about extending lesson-time.

She looked back at her team and nodded, the gesture satisfying them as they all turned back to the stage. Professor Smith had already picked two teams who had come on to the stage and faced off against one another. Greta relaxed as the two upper year groups engaged with one another.

Greta wasn't sure how long the fight actually lasted but it felt far too quick to her. Both teams moved with experience and confidence, weaving around one another as they lashed out to make strikes, test their opponents defences and exploit weaknesses when they appeared. They were probably upper years since their performance indicated their greater combat experience. The fact that Greta had never seen them in any of her classes also backed up her guess. The fight finally ended with one team completely defeated and the other losing half of their own members to Aura depletion.

'A fantastic display from Teams CRSN and EMLD,' Professor Smith said as he Professor Glas stepped back onto the stage.

The professor was about to call upon another pair of teams when he paused. Greta was a little surprised as the older man proceeded to scrutinise a spot in the crowd of students. His professional expression was quickly replaced by a deep frown that then turned into a glare of annoyance.

'Is my class boring you, Ms Lupina,' Professor Smith then said. Greta rose in her seat in order to peer over the heads of the others and see who the professor was talking to.

Though she wasn't standing up completely Greta was able to finally see over the people in front of her and see who Professor Smith was talking to. A few rows ahead of Team GRAP was a girl dressed in a full suit of very heavy armour. She had dark skin and her outfit was a deep green with a red eye symbol emblazoned on the shoulders, making her stand out but what drew most eyes were the conspicuous headphones that were still in her ears.

'I'm sorry professor,' the girl said in a surprisingly casual tone of voice, taking her headphones off and sitting up straight, 'what was that?'

'I asked if my class was boring you,' Smith repeated, folding his arms. 'You seem to be engrossed by whatever music you're listening to.'

'Oh,' the girl said, smirking slightly. 'Yeah. Durand-Squared. Best band of the 40's.'

'Debatable, given the existence of The Faunus League - "Together in Dusty Dreams" was a magnificent single,' Smith replied blandly, his glare deepening, 'but in any case, that's irrelevant. You're in a classroom, Miss Lupina. Paying a smidgen of attention might have you _learn_ something, more than the lyrics of Durand-Squared which, as talented a band as they were, won't really help you in a fight.'

Lupina sat back in her chair. 'Doubt it.'

There was a gasp from the entire assembled group at her insolence, and an outbreak of mutters started. Smith simply raised an eyebrow.

'Is that so?' he said, crossing his arms. 'Perhaps you think you know it all already?'

Lupina shrugged, a smirk on her face. 'This duelling stuff is all basic for me and my team. We were taught by the best. I doubt there's anything that _you_ could teach us.'

There was another outbreak of murmuring. No one missed her emphasis. A boy in golden armour sat near her actually put his head in his hands exasperatedly with a loud groan.

'I see,' Smith said. 'I suppose you don't rate me highly as a duellist.'

Lupina leant forward. 'Uh, permission to speak candidly, sir?' Smith motioned for her to continue. 'Well, see, we've been trained by Atlesian Huntsmen and military personnel. Compared to someone like – I dunno, Headmaster Lupina? You're… not very impressive. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that you're all up on theory, but…'

'But you're not convinced I'd be any good in _practice_ ,' Smith finished, crossing his arms with an arched eyebrow.

Lupina motioned at him as if to say "well have you _seen_ you?" In his greyish pinstriped shirt, old velvet waistcoat and battered trousers and boots, Smith hardly looked impressive, it was true. He smiled.

'While it's true I was never _the_ best duellist,' he began, 'I _was_ in the war, Miss Lupina. One does not go through such an experience without some measure of combat skill.'

Lupina still didn't look convinced, and so Smith motioned again.

'Why don't you and the rest of Team SWRZ come down here and see how you fare?' he asked with a smile.

Lupina blinked. 'Against _you,_ sir?'

'Well, yes,' Smith said, still smiling. 'Show a broken down old geezer like myself what the prime of Atlas' training can do.'

Lupina blinked again, before grinning. She practically _leapt_ from her seat, a pair of clawed gauntlets crackling, and three others followed her. One was a red headed boy in grey armour covered in writing, hefting a mace. Another was a large and angry looking man in dirty armour, hefting two chain axes with him. The last was a small and young-looking girl in red armour, walking with a quarterstaff behind her back.

Smith smiled at the group. 'Ah, yes – Mr Augustine,' the scripture-armoured boy nodded, 'Mr… Rex, wasn't it?' The chain-axe wielding big growled. 'And Ms Ocula.' The petite girl curtsied. 'This should be illuminating.'

They adopted a semicircular formation, surrounding Smith, who simply put his hands behind his back, as though waiting. Augustine and Rex circled around the Professor's left whilst Ocula went to the right. Lupina stayed where she was, staring down the professor. The board above them now displayed the aura levels of Team SWRZ, opposite Smith's own.

'You can start any time now,' he said amiably.

'Draw your weapon!' Lupina said, flexing her claws and taking a striking stance, her arms raised, ready to lash out.

The man simply motioned for them to attack with one hand. Throwing a look at her colleagues, Lupina nodded.

At once, the entire group attacked. Lupina was the first to arrive at Smith's position, her arms swinging. Her gauntlets activated, Dust chambers igniting and wrapping the long claws that extended from the knuckles in lightning. Her arms seemed to blur and Greta struggled to see the girl's strikes as she swung, finishing her attack with a deadly spin that ended with her sliding along the stage floor behind the professor and the straightening again with a flourish.

Augustine arrived less than a second later, spinning like a top with his mace extended out. The moment he had hit Professor Smith he then changed direction, ending his momentum and instead swinging his weapon around him in a deadly and terrifying nimbus. He too slid to the opposite side of his position, missing Ocula who had been in front of him, across from the professor. Despite attacking the same direction his comrade had been standing in, it did not look like Augustine had been in danger of actually hitting her at any point.

Rex came third and his display of skill unnerved Greta. He seemed to snarl in an almost animalistic fashion as he activated his weapons. Chains of sharp teeth quickly began to turn along the edges of the axe heads, filling the auditorium with a grinding noise. His axes span quickly despite their large size, astonishing Greta as Rex created his own cyclone of steel. The weapons blurred as Rex span them around his body, his growl disappearing but the savage snarl remaining on his face. He too eventually moved beyond the professor's position and came to a halt a few metres away, spinning around to make the next move.

Ocula, unlike the others, opened up with a ranged attack. A gun barrel opened up on the end of her quarterstaff and she shot off a burst of fire and electricity Dust. The hybridised round wrapped Professor Smith in a crackling pillar of off-colour fire that did quickly dissipate but bathed the professor before it was gone. Ocula then span her quarterstaff around and swung it at him, hitting him and then planting it in the ground. Hoisting herself up on the staff, Ocula then lashed out with a spinning kick, landed and scissor-kicked the professor. Using her remaining momentum, she then jumped away and took a guarded position, ready to strike.

All four of them stood in place, ready to finish the professor off. Greta could see victorious expressions on all four student's faces. They seemed confident that it would just take a few more strikes to defeat him, if they hadn't already done so with their first assault.

They turned to see him standing, hands still behind his back, looking at them with an expression of mild interest.

'Good coordination,' he commented.

'Get him,' Lupina snapped, a scowl on her face.

The team leapt forward again, this time simultaneously, their weapons held in a striking position. Lupina reached the professor first, swiping out with her claws. Rex was the next, coming at Professor Smith from the opposite direction to Lupina. His attack arrived barely an instant after Lupina's but was far less elaborate, instead taking the form of a simple blow from both axes. Greta did see the professor move this time though.

Professor Smith moved with an eerie speed and grace as he sidestepped Lupina's attacks and then moved out of the way of Rex's blows in the same fluid motion. Augustine was the next to arrive, barely letting a second slip between his comrades' attacks and his own. The boy's mace come down in a savage overhead strike but Professor Smith moved out of the way, stepping back into the space he had left a second ago now that Lupina and Rex had pulled their weapons back and away from him.

Ocula thrust forward with one end of her quarterstaff, trying to jab at the professor's defences but Professor Smith simply stepped out of her reach, passing through a gap in the team's formation that no-one had noticed and appearing next to Lupina. To Greta it appeared as if the older man had teleported but she had clearly seen the movements he made. She blinked furiously as she tried to register what she had just seen the professor do.

'Predictable movement,' Smith's voice said from behind them, and they turned to see him still standing there, looking bored. 'All very efficient against Grimm, no doubt, but against a living, thinking opponent who knows what they're doing, sadly ineffective.'

Lupina glanced to the others. Ocula nodded, spinning her quarterstaff, before pointing the end at Smith and firing what looked like projected energy blasts at him from the other end of the weapon.

Smith _moved_. He moved so fast it was unclear that he even _had_ moved until he stopped, a good three metres from where he had been standing, a smile on his face.

'Confirmed,' Lupina said shortly, as though this had been expected. 'Alright - he's a dilater. Adjust strategy.'

She motioned to her team, and she and Augustine advanced, flanking Smith on either side. Rex and Ocula stayed back, though Rex looked angry about it. Ocula brought her staff up again.

'That was a probing attack to get me to reveal my semblance, wasn't it?' Smith asked quietly. They didn't reply. 'Eight out of ten for the idea – though only six for the execution, a standard dodge would have worked had I chosen to use it.'

'Then why _didn't_ you?' Lupina snorted.

'Sass, Ms Lupina?' Smith asked. 'Just because one _can_ do a thing, it does not automatically follow that one _should_ , or even that doing such a thing is desirable.' His expression became more serious. 'I know that far better than most.'

Lupina nodded to Augustine, and suddenly the two sprang forward, striking as one - only for Professor Smith to dodge once again. Lupina's strikes had hit nothing but air, and in a flash, Smith had brought out a small metallic device that was twice as long as his hand and glowed with a red light at the tip, a glyph appearing in mid-air not unlike the workings of a clock, that blocked Augustine's mace.

Augustine, as opposed to looking annoyed at being blocked, grinned. 'So, you finally draw your weapon.'

'This isn't my weapon at all,' Smith replied amiably, waving what appeared to be an elaborate Dust-wand in his hands. 'It's a screwdriver.'

He pushed Augustine back and then moved to the left as Lupina dashed forward. Smith was now standing in the centre of the arena, the four members of team SWRZ surrounding him. He brought his "screwdriver" up into a ready pose, and gave them a grin.

Greta could see the student team were getting annoyed. None of them seemed to have exerted themselves but they all wore expressions indicating various levels of frustration. Flexing her arms, Lupina reignited her gauntlets, lightning crackling across the blades and charged forward. She swung a left hook at Professor Smith which he moved to dodge. The moment he took a step, however, she flicked her wrist and directed arcs of the lighting in his direction.

Seeing the electricity reaching out for him, the professor raised his hand a little and a glyph formed in front of him. Greta opened her eyes wider as she saw the circular symbol appear. Ethereal clock hands rapidly span across the surface of the glyph just as the lightning bolts were about to touch Professor Smith. Just as the lighting was about to strike the professor flickered and was suddenly gone. He reappeared a second later behind Lupina, just as Ocula jumped forward, her staff spinning over her head.

Professor Smith moved his head and upper body as Ocula finally thrust her staff forward. The weapon sailed past his head but Ocula reversed her strike and brought it back up. With a slight flex of her arms she angled the quarterstaff to his chest. Another glyph appeared but this time it slid Professor Smith to the side, to the other side of Ocula. Augustine moved in to support his teammate, his mace lashing out to hit the professor as he reappeared. Professor Smith dodged with almost unnatural speed, barely seeming to move as he dodged every attempted blow.

Ocula turned around to hit the professor as he was occupied with Augustine, thrusting forward with her staff again. Another glyph appeared but this time all it did was twist the professor's upper body out of the way of the quarterstaff which then collided with Augustine's mace. Both students were unbalanced by the collision and struggled to reorient themselves.

In that time Rex had finally decided to make his move. He ran forward with an almost animalistic roar, both his axes swinging with alternating strikes. Professor Smith continued to move out of the way of his attacks but this time Rex continued to press forward, forcing the professor to continue falling back and away from the student. At the same time the other three fighters had recovered and were closing in on him, spreading out and coming at the older man from all four directions.

A second later all four of them closed in on their target. They all struck simultaneously, their blows expertly weaving around one another as they tried to provide no gaps or pauses for Professor Smith to exploit. The fight almost became a blur as the student team swung and thrust into the professor's position and were met by increasingly quick dodges and diversions.

Then, for one second, the battle slowed. Ocula got in one jab that struck Professor Smith in the face as he was moving aside from Augustine's mace. He stumbled back, holding up a warding hand, but before she could capitalise on her blow, Ocula was thrown back by a blast from his screwdriver. The other three jumped back as well as Professor Smith righted himself, his screwdriver still extended out to protect himself.

'Well done,' Smith congratulated. 'It's been a long while since anyone laid a blow on me.'

Ocula inclined her head at the praise.

'We're finishing this now,' Lupina seethed. She now looked noticeably dishevelled and frustrated, a snarl that almost matched Rex's on her face.

She threw herself at the professor, her claws crackling with lightning. This time, however, Professor Smith held out his screwdriver and pressed on the trigger. A burst of powdered ice shot out as the Dust inside ignited. Lupina, having overextended herself in order to make her attack, was unable to respond to the attack and stumbled as she took the blast of ice in her face. She managed to keep her feet but doubled over as she tried to shake the irritating frost and ice powder from her face. Lupina managed to keep from trying to rub her face as her claws were still activated, the lightning sparking ominously along the weapons.

Augustine ran forward, his mace flying out to hit the professor. The response from Professor Smith was far less forgiving than the one Lupina had received as he fired out another burst of ice Dust that coalesced into four shards of ice that lashed out and hit the boy. Augustine reeled back as he parried them all with his mace. The boy continued to advance but Professor Smith, using the delay his attack had made, summoned another glyph and sped behind the boy. His arm lashed out and he beat Augustine over the head with the butt of his screwdriver. He then followed up the strike with a series of attacks, punctuating the blunt blows from his screwdriver with blasts of fire and ice Dust that he alternated over and over until Augustine's Aura was depleted.

The entire assault and Augustine's defeat had taken barely a few seconds, leaving Lupina, Rex and Ocula stunned. Greta could tell Lupina was trying to reorient her strategy but before she could give and order Rex let out a roar of rage and ran forward.

Professor Smith turned to face him and then disappeared. Rex, unable to stop his momentum, arrived in the position the professor had been standing in, his blow hitting nothing but air. Despite the miss, Rex managed to change his own position and bring his axes around in an arc, just as Professor Smith reappeared. Professor Smith brought his screwdriver out just in time to fire off a gravity Dust shot. The powerful cartridge forced Rex's weapons back in an instant and dragged the massive, armoured boy along with them. Rex collapsed to the ground as he was unbalanced entirely and struggled to recover from the strike. Professor Smith summoned a glyph and then stuck his weapon into it. The moment he touched the ethereal clock-face, his arm became a blur of movement. Shot after shot blasted out of his screwdriver faster than the eye could see and rained down on Rex as he lay prone and stunned on the floor. Barely a few seconds later the boy's Aura fell into the red band and his disqualification was announced.

His opponent defeated, Professor Smith righted himself and let out a short sigh. Ocula and Lupina exchanged a glance as they saw the professor turn to regard them.

'Adjust strategy,' Lupina advised, her tone and face calm once again. Ocula nodded.

Both girls slowly began to circle around Professor Smith, their weapons held ready to strike at a moment's notice. Lupina hadn't activated her claws yet but Ocula did have her hands on the trigger mechanism of her quarterstaff. Professor Smith, on the other hand, seemed to act relatively casually in response, his eyes on them but his stance relaxed and his screwdriver down by his side.

Lupina concentrated very carefully, trying to read the older man's movements and predict what he would do. Ocula was doing he same, keeping her quarterstaff raised and ready to strike but holding back from making a move of her own.

The entire auditorium had gone quiet as every student in the room watched and waited to see what would happen. Greta had been surprised by what she had seen in the fight. Never before had she seen such displays of speed and skill. Parts of the battle had been difficult to follow as, more often than not, the combatants had moved too quickly for her to properly make out the moves of the fight.

Then, suddenly, Ocula sprang forward. She pressed down on the trigger of her staff and let out a blast of Dust fuelled energy. Professor Smith dodged the beam but as he stepped out of the way Lupina jumped forward, her gauntlets activating in an instant. Summoning a glyph, Professor Smith moved out of the way of the strike but this time, instead of just dodging Lupina, he knocked her over the back of her head with the butt of his screwdriver. Lupina stumbled but managed to keep her feet and tried to turn around. At the same time Ocula ran forward, planted the end of her quarterstaff in the ground and vaulted over Lupina.

Professor Smith stepped back out of the range of Ocula as she lashed out with one of her feet. Having missed, she landed on the ground and swung her staff over her head, bringing down on the space the professor had moved into, forcing him to move again.

Another glyph appeared behind the professor and he flashed from his old position into the space between both of the girls. His hand flicked out and his screwdriver shot out a burst of fire Dust that hit Lupina. Ocula swung her staff again as Professor Smith was directing the flow of Dust. Professor Smith moved aside, cutting off the Dust stream and spun on the spot. His arm lashed out and hit Ocula, forcing her back and off balance. He followed up the blow with strikes from his screwdriver, jabbing and thrusting over and over, his arm blurring from the speed. It took several seconds but he quickly broke through Ocula's Aura and forced her down to the floor, defeated.

'This hasn't happened in a long time,' Lupina growled as she glared at the professor.

'I can tell,' Professor Smith replied with a placid expression on his face.

Lupina charged forward again, her arms spread out to tackle the professor. Lightning crackled over her gauntlets again and an angry snarl was fixed to her face. Professor Smith simply stood his ground in return, his arm extended out and his screwdriver pointed at her. Just as the two were about to clash, the professor summoned another glyph and disappeared. Lupina growled in response, planted her left foot and spun on it, bringing her right leg up in a roundhouse kick.

She span halfway through her arc just as Professor Smith reappeared behind her, ready to make his own move. The kick connected and almost knocked the professor over. Lupina corrected her balance and jumped at the professor to bring him to the ground completely. Just as she was about to reach him a burst of powdered ice Dust exploded in her face once again. Unprepared, she let out a scream of pain and frustration and stumbled. At the same time, Professor Smith moved aside, clearing her path to the floor, and finished her with a hard knock to the base of her skull with his screwdriver. Lupina fell to the floor and a buzzer announced her Aura falling into the red band. The fight was over.

The auditorium remained quiet, no-one believing what they had seen. Even the second and third years who were in the audience were shocked by what they had seen. The defeated combatants all sat up from the floor again, several of them groaning in discomfort and frustration. Lupina was the first to fully recover and lift herself back onto her knees, her arms in position to rise back to her feet. It was then that the professor stepped forward again.

'First mistake,' Professor Smith began, looking down at Lupina with a stern frown. 'Assuming anything about your opponent. There is a lot a person who is clever _won't_ tell you about themselves just from how they appear.'

Lupina picked herself up, scowling at him.

'You lot,' Smith continued, 'you telegraph. Not your moves – those are controlled, tight, nothing to fault. Your strategies – you speak your words, but you work well enough together that there's a certain difficulty in predicting your movements. No, you telegraph the worst thing possible.' He motioned at Lupina's armour. 'You telegraph _yourselves_. Armour, attitude, the way you walk, the way you talk. It all demonstrates that you're fighters, but it doesn't leave you much to hide. Me? I don't look like a fighter – but I just beat all of you.' He tapped his nose. 'Getting the enemy to underestimate you. There's a thing to remember.'

Lupina simply nodded, her scowl reduced to a small frown. 'Permission to return to our seats, sir?'

'Permission granted, Ms Lupina,' Smith replied. She nodded again, before moving back to her seat. Rex simply growled irritably, not even looking at Smith as he, too, went to his seat. Augustine and Ocula took a moment to bow to Smith respectfully, before they, too, went back to their seats. The Professor clapped his hands, as though brushing dust off, before smiling up at the class.

'Right,' he said. 'Who's up next?'

* * *

Greta blinked in disbelief as she tried to process what she had just seen. The auditorium was still rather quiet but the beginnings of conversation were starting to stir once again. Everyone who was talking were commenting on the fight and the displays that Professor Smith and his opponents had given them.

Greta turned to her teammates and friends and saw that every one of them had been affected by what they had seen. Most of them seemed stunned by the skills of the previous combatants, even Adelheid who wore a conflicted expression that Greta couldn't figure out. Tom seemed to be pale and had a grimace of concern on his face. Greta guessed that he believed that he would somehow have to reach that level of ability in the next two years and probably wasn't very confident about his chances of achieving that.

Greta herself was more worried about what she had seen from Professor Smith. The upper year students he had fought were incredibly fast and had shown a lot of combat abilities and an unearthly level of coordination when they attacked as a group and managed to avoid hitting one another. The Professor, however, had been frightening when he finally decided to react to them. He had barely suffered any strikes, shown only a little discomfort or exertion from the fight and had defeated his opponents with disgusting ease.

"Is that what a proper Huntsman is supposed to be like?" she asked herself. "What do you go through to get like that? Do you normally face things that need that kind of speed?"

The next fight, by comparison, appeared lacklustre though the combatants were trying as hard as everyone else who had gotten on stage before them. Greta did watch but her thoughts remained fixated on the fight between the professor and the upper years. She was surprised when the buzzers announced the fight in front of her was over and even jumped from the sudden noise.

'That will be all for today,' Professor Smith said as the two teams walked back to their seats. 'I would just like to say one thing before you leave though.'

Greta leaned forward in her seat, genuinely interested in hearing what the professor had to say. She could see that the rest of the class were doing the same, even the team that he had beaten, at least from what she could make out. The upper years who had fought Professor Smith now had her interest as much as the professor himself did.

'Here at Beacon I like to think that we do a good job of encouraging you all to try new things and challenge yourselves,' Professor Smith began. 'However, I would like to warn you that trying to goad teachers on purpose like Ms Lupina did today,' Greta then saw him direct his gaze to the upper year team and the girl he had just called out, 'is something we don't take lightly. I don't expect you to regard us as unquestionable but blatant disregard for the respect we deserve as your educators will not be tolerated.'

'Now,' he then continued, softening up a little and sounding much more cheerful. 'Professor Glas would like to invite you all to a special seminar after the lunch hour is over. The forges are offering access to all the materials and equipment you could ask for if you want to fine-tune or upgrade your weaponry in preparation for the Vytal Festival.'

'That's right, John,' Professor Glas than said, a cheery expression on his face. 'Feel free to pop by. I know the forges and my own workshop are open to everyone and free anyway but for today – and a few other carefully selected days – I'll be giving you all access to the high-level materials. All first-year students will be expected to have a suitable supervisor with them when they use the presses and forges though. I don't like to see my students getting hurt.' He then beamed at the class. 'See you all in an hour, I hope.'

With that the class was dismissed. Greta got up out of her seat at about the same time as her team and hurried out of their row and into the avenue between the seats. Team TEAL hung around for them and then set off, out of the auditorium.

'So?' Tom began. 'How about lunch?'

'Well going down into Vale isn't an option if any of us want to go to that seminar,' Peter replied. 'I would guess our only real option is the cafeteria.'

'Fair enough,' Tom said in agreement. 'Any objections?'

As the rest of the group gave their own confirmations, Greta was looking around. She was still slightly curious about the team that had fought the professor earlier and wanted to at least get a glimpse of them. The crowds coming from the auditorium was thinning as students went off in their own directions. She was a little worried as the group walked further away from the auditorium but eventually she saw the brightly coloured and armoured group stalk out.

Lupina and her team had been joined by another group who were also heavily armoured and brightly painted. At the head of the new group was a tall boy with tanned skin, dark hair and steel grey armour. He was glowering at Lupina and saying something to her with a harsh glare. Lupina was scowling at him in return but they weren't shouting or snapping openly at one another. Greta stopped and stood still as she watched the enlarged group step out of the crowd and head in the direction of the dorms. It was then that she saw someone that shocked her.

In the group was a girl with a pale, Atlesian complexion and blonde hair. She wasn't doing anything other than trailing behind the tall boy, a frown on her face as she watched what Greta presumed was the group's leader talk hurriedly to Lupina. What really got Greta's attention was the bright red jump suit and light armour plating that covered part of her body as well as the long, bright red cloak that trailed behind her.

"It's her," Greta thought as she realised who the girl was. "The girl from the mall."

* * *

'What in the _hells_ was that?!' Geoffrey Strong hissed as he slammed the door to his team's dorm room shut behind him. The yellow-armoured boy looked livid, but all Selene did was smirk at him. They were alone – Geoffrey never felt comfortable "undermining" Selene in front of her team: among them, her authority had to be absolute.

'It was fun, for one thing,' she said with a wink. 'First real fight we've had since we came here.'

'Picking a fight with teachers is _not_ what we're here to do!' Geoffrey snapped. 'What next? You going to challenge Glas, or Siog? Or, Gods save us, _Arc_?'

'Arc is a known quantity,' Selene yawned. 'And Glas and Siog are the same. So are a lot of the rest. Smith… wasn't.'

Geoffrey snorted. 'Sure, you did what you did for _research purposes_.'

'Oh, no, I did what I did for _fun_ purposes, since these lessons suck and we're not even going to be _in_ the Vytal Tournament,' Selene retorted with another wink. 'My fun just had some… unexpected dividends.'

Geoffrey took a breath and then fixed her with a stern, professional look. 'Report.'

Selene snapped a mock salute. 'Alright. Smith's clearly good. He was in the war – told us as much – so we're dealing with a veteran huntsman, likely past his prime but still way more formidable than he really needs to be for his job.'

'A fair analysis, but what's your conclusion?' Geoffrey asked.

'Isn't it obvious?' Selene asked. 'Arc picked this guy for a reason. They're smart. If they didn't need him around here he wouldn't be here, he'd be off doing missions like they have Ruby Rose doing.' She smirked. 'No, they've got a better use for him here, clearly. They figure having a trained Huntsmen of that skill around is useful to whatever purpose they have – and I'm betting that purpose is at least tangentially related to our enemy.'

'Arc might have just picked him _because_ he's good,' Geoffrey pointed out.

'No, Arc's a veteran too,' Selene said, her smirk fading. 'Men like that don't forget that they're soldier and instructor both. He's attending to _both_ with that choice, I'm sure of it.'

Geoffrey sighed. 'All fair points, and it's something to consider. Still, this represents a _gross_ breach of discipline. I _will_ be informing the headmaster. It doesn't happen again.'

Selene scowled. 'Fine. You're right, anyway.'

'Of course I am,' Geoffrey said with his own, slight, smirk. 'Do me a favour though.'

Selene raised an eyebrow.

'Next time you take on a teacher,' Geoffrey said, ' _win_.'

Selene grinned. 'Deal, Geoff. Now if you'll excuse me, I've gotta go debrief the guys. Rex _still_ doesn't switch up his style.'

'I didn't know that guy _had_ a style,' Geoffrey snorted.

'Sure he does,' Selene said with a wink. '"The way of the raging bull in a china shop".'

Geoffrey's face was settled into a look of contented disinterest as he let Selene leave and return to her own room. His team would probably wait outside and give him some time to get his thoughts back together. Still feeling frustrated with his fellow team leader's rash decision, he sat down on his bed and let out a long sigh.

"She'd better not get us killed," he thought bitterly. Selene was a fantastic fighter and a competent leader but a part of him was worried about the sudden unilateral actions she had just taken. He tried not to think too hard about what could happen if she did something like that again.

'Not my job to babysit her though,' he muttered. 'Even if I could.'

"Better get to the CCT," he then decided, sitting up and then lifting himself off of the bed. "I'll report this to the headmaster. Then I'll get back to her about the investigation." His mind made up, Geoffrey walked out of his room, nodded in acknowledgement to his teammates and set off to the CCT.

* * *

'Alright guys,' Greta said as she sat down with the others in the cafeteria. 'This is gonna sound weird but I saw someone with the team that fought Professor Smith.'

'What?' Lach interrupted, his question muffled slightly by the sandwich he had bitten into.

'Chew and swallow your food before you talk,' Adelheid said with a huff and a roll of her eyes. 'Honestly.'

'There was a girl with that team who was there at the mall when the, umm…' Greta trailed off as she thought back to the attack on the mall in the Central Commercial District. Remembering the incident made suddenly made her feel uneasy and she frowned.

'The attack right?' Rapture asked with her own frown.

'Uh, yeah,' Greta replied awkwardly. 'Sorry, I just, uh didn't know if it, was.' Greta trailed off as she rubbed at her neck and frowned.

'It's alright,' Rapture said in response, sighing slightly. 'What were you trying to say.'

'Oh, right,' Greta righted herself. 'Well when we there giving the police our reports I saw this girl dressed in red talking to the police and looking at the, uh,' Greta hesitated, as she felt unsettled again, 'the bodies.'

'Okay,' Tom said, leaning forward. The entire group was listening to her now. Team GRAP had never really talked about the attack on the mall to Team TEAL and they had been polite enough to not bring the topic up themselves.

'Well, I just saw that same girl with Lupina and her team walking out of the auditorium together,' Greta finished.

'That's not really abnormal though,' Tom replied. 'Huntsmen in training are allowed to assist in crime scenes.'

'True,' Peter added.

'Yes,' Greta then said, 'true. But they're not just allowed access to sensitive materials and the police just let her walk right up to the bodies and inspect them. She didn't even need a warranty or whatever you need to hand over.'

'You sure?' Lach asked. He and several others at the table sounded sceptical.

'Positive,' Greta replied. 'She just walked up, the police took one look at her face and then she was allowed all over the place. Isn't that just a little bit weird?'

'Well,' Tom said, still sounding a little sceptical, 'I guess you're right. That's not exactly normal.'

'So we have a girl who is still in school but had access to sensitive material in a crime scene,' Peter iterated, his eyes roaming around the group as if he were waiting for some to interject.

'Who was hanging around the team that just fought Professor Smith,' Greta then added.

'A team that was led by a rather rude girl,' Aurora said.

'A stupid girl,' Adelheid continued. 'What kind of idiot tries to agitate a teacher in a Huntsman Academy, the deputy headmaster no less.'

'Oh right,' Greta then interrupted. 'I remember. There were other people with that team and one of them looked really angry at Lupina for some reason.'

'Maybe he was a friend,' Tom pointed out. 'I know I would be concerned if someone I knew challenged a professor and was taken out like they were.'

'Sounds reasonable,' Aurora and Adelheid said at the same time, giving one another flat, deadpan looks when they realised they had spoken together.

'Maybe the warrants don't apply to upper years?' Peter suggested. He didn't sound very convinced by his own argument.

'They apply to regular Huntsmen and Huntresses though,' Adelheid countered. 'If officially recognised and registered adults have to get permission to legally access crime scene material I don't see why students wouldn't.'

'Good point,' Peter conceded.

'Does it really matter though?' Lach said. 'That girl yer talkin' about is friends with guys stupid enough to try to take on a professor. Why would ya wanna chase 'er up?'

'Have any of you actually seen those guys before?' Greta suddenly asked. Though she realised what Lach was trying to say she didn't want to let go of the issue just yet. She couldn't get the red-girl, and what she had been doing at the mall out of her head.

'They looked like upper years, so no,' Elizabeth replied, finally speaking up. The rest of the group shook their heads as well.

'Fair enough,' Greta said with a defeated sigh as she settled back down into her seat. 'Never mind.'

As the group began to talk amongst themselves again Greta turned to pick at her meal. She was a little disappointed that no-one really knew about the girl she had just seen but another part of her was happy to put the issue to bed, like she had with most things concerning the attack at the mall. The rest of the group had also happily moved on from the awkward topic as well.

It was then that Greta saw Rapture. The faunus girl was eating at a steady pace but her face was stuck in a thoughtful frown. Greta couldn't entirely guess what Rapture was thinking but it was clear that her teammate was deep in thought and it was probably about the girl, or at least the attack last month. She occasionally answered a few of the questions sent her way by the general conversation around her but she would always return to whatever introspection she was having.

"It's probably nothing," Greta thought as she picked up her fork and stuck into some lasagne on her plate. "Please," Greta pleaded silently to whatever gods were listening. "Please let it be nothing."


	4. Chapter Four: Suspicions Part Two

**Chapter** **Four** **:** **Suspicions Part Two** **:**

 **October** **31** **st** **1462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

Greta was feeling good about her day. Though it was a Tuesday, and therefore a prelude to Wednesday, it was also a national holiday and by far her favourite, Sanctonoct. Derived from a Solitasian festival that the Vytali had adopted and then brought down to Sanus millennia ago, Sanctonoct was supposed to be a night where the people of the world gave offerings to the spirits that walked the earth on the night when the afterlife and Remnant intersected around the Autumn Equinox. Now it had mostly become an excuse to dress up, eat sweets and other nice food and throw parties but Greta certainly didn't regret the decline of the history's religious connotations.

She had spent most of the day lounging around in her room, waiting for the school to finish setting up the party that was going to be held in the main hall in the evening. When the school had been reopened, the event hadn't started out being that large – or so she had heard – but increased student participation, both in organizing and setting up the party and actually attending it, had led to more and more attention being given to the festivities.

Greta wasn't exactly comfortable at parties but she liked Sacrosanct and she knew enough people in the school now to know she would always have someone to talk to while she was there. The rest of Team GRAP had also been rather excited to attend, even Rapture who had been rather quiet for the past week.

Thinking of Rapture made Greta frown and lie back on her bed. Her faunus teammate had been rather quiet and distracted lately. The first few days had been worrying for Greta when she realised how uninvolved Rapture had become with the team, often leaving to go off campus and into the grounds during her free time. It wasn't until the weekend that Greta had realised that Rapture's behaviour had begun after the conversation about the red-girl who had been with the police during the mall attack.

"I shouldn't sit on this again," Greta thought, sighing. She lay back on her bed and rubbed at her face. She didn't feel enthusiastic about the prospect of interfering and possibly annoying Rapture but she also couldn't risk letting things get worse again. She had been putting the issue off though and she knew from experience that doing so only made it worse.

Groaning, Greta got up off of her bed and stood up straight, smoothing out her dress. She looked herself over in the mirror and fiddled with her hair a little. She felt a little more comfortable until she looked at her slightly nervous reflection and realised she was procrastinating again. Sighing in frustration, she slouched a little and then turned to the door. It was then, just as she reached for the doorknob, that the door suddenly opened.

Greta jumped back as Peter walked into the room, a relaxed smile on his face. He paused as he saw Greta standing in his way but simply waited, still looking content.

'Can I help?' Peter asked, his smile turning into a slightly sardonic smirk.

'Oh, uh, right, sorry,' Greta said as she moved out of the way. "You'd think he would teleport around me," she thought idly for a moment.

Peter walked into his room and up to his bed. He then knelt down, reached under it and pulled out a wooden case. It was made of dark wood that had been carved with a few patterns and symbols and held together with stainless steel bands. There was a latch on it but no visible lock and the box opened easily when Peter pressed down on a button attached to it.

'What's that?' Greta asked, her mission to find Rapture forgotten.

'This?' Peter asked as he turned to look at her. 'It's a present from my grandfather. He tucked it into my possessions when I was packing for Beacon. He said it was a present for getting into a Huntsman Academy and for leaving home.' Peter pulled up the lid of the box to reveal twelve wide bottles made of brown glass and capped with steel lids. 'Atlesian scotch,' Peter said cheerily, pulling one of the bottles out and showing it to her. The bottle had a label on the middle that showed a bear's head.

'Your grandfather gave you booze?' Greta said in a flat, disbelieving tone.

'Yes,' Peter replied flatly, pocketing the bottle in his coat. 'I've not actually tried any of it yet and my parents only ever let me sample champagne and wine but my grandfather insisted in the note he sent with the box that I should acquire a taste for it.'

'Your family let you drink?' Greta immediately followed up. She still had trouble registering some of the things Peter was telling her.

'They started giving me watered down wine when I was thirteen,' Peter replied offhandedly. 'It was supposedly necessary for social functions and they kept reducing the water content as I got older.'

'Uh, wow,' Greta mumbled. 'I, just…wow.' She paused for a moment as she tried to get her thoughts in order. 'So, uh, what are you doing with that? You're not taking that to the party are you? Cause I think the professors aren't going to like that.'

'Wha...no,' Peter said in response in a dismayed tone. 'It's Heiligenacht. I'm going to make an offering.'

'Hileganacht?' Greta asked, confused at what Peter had just said.

'Heiligenacht,' Peter corrected her. 'It's what we call Sanctonoct in Atlas. Back at home, it's common to give an offering to the gods before the parties begin. I didn't really have anything worth giving other than this though,' He then gave her a joking smile. 'Here's hoping that the gods like scotch.'

'Oh,' Greta replied. 'So will you be at the party tonight?'

'Of course,' Peter said. 'I haven't put that much effort into a costume this year but I'm definitely going to attend. Don't worry about the scotch by the way, I'm leaving the whole thing at the shrine.'

With that he shut the lid of the case and pushed it back under his bed. He then stood, patting the pocket he had put the bottle in as if he was making sure it was staying in there and then walked out of the door.

'I'll see you later at the party then,' he said as he stepped out of the room and turned down the corridor.

'Yeah, I'll see you later,' Greta replied, giving him a small wave as he left.

Sighing again, Greta realised she had been delaying again. Straightening, she walked out of the door and shut it behind her. She wasn't exactly sure where Rapture would be but there were a few places that she could guess her teammate was likely hanging around. Greta decided to start with the training grounds and then walked to the stairs that led down to the ground floor. Though she wasn't entirely sure how to start the inquiry off with Rapture, Greta had made her decision to at least make an effort to talk things over.

* * *

Rapture, snarled in exertion as she swung her fists hard at a large holographic Ursa. The simultaneous push against the Grimm's chest, reinforced by her Aura and made lethally dangerous by the extended claws of Long Claw, caved in the simulacrum's torso, causing the beast to finally collapse and shimmer out of existence. A buzzer went off, informing her that the simulation was complete.

Sighing, she slumped her shoulders and looked down at her hands. She then denied the simulator's offer to run a new round and stepped out of the ring. She had been on the training grounds for several hours, making the most of her day off to put some things straight in her mind.

Ever since Greta had told her about the girl that she had apparently noticed at the mall weeks ago and that said girl was actually attending school, Rapture had been unable to get it out of her mind. Unfortunately, at the same time, she hadn't really been able to do anything about the girl actually being at the school. She couldn't just go up and ask a girl who had the authority to see sensitive police materials without documentation to tell her why she was there. With no feasible options available to her Rapture had stewed in her own speculations, disappointment and disgruntlement at the way things were going.

Leaving the ring, she looked around. Unsurprisingly, with the Vytal Festival so close, many students were making the most of the training facilities that Beacon offered them. Everything was busy as students from every year tried to make the most of whatever was available to them on their day off. Rapture had been forced to wait for one of the rings to open up when she first arrived and had probably made an enemy of a, presumably upper year, girl she had cut off when she went up and grabbed the first ring she had seen vacant before the girl could.

Flicking her wrists, she folded Long Claw back into the thick steel bands she wore like bracelets now that she no longer needed the weapon. She was done with her actual combat training and planned to get a more normal workout in before she returned to the dorm. She actually felt a lot better after having a real distraction from her unhelpfully circuitous thoughts. Schoolwork, reading and movies weren't doing a good enough job but pushing herself physically was doing a much better job in helping keep her mind busy.

As she idly looked around the training rings, she noticed a fight going in one of them that caught her interest. Other students who didn't have a ring available to them yet were already crowded around it as they watched an entire team engaged in a four-way fight. The fighting was fierce as the narrow stage they could move in restricted their movements and forced them to engage one another directly. All four combatants seemed familiar but it was only when Rapture got closer that she properly recognised the people in front of her. It was Team TEAL.

The entire team was battling one another with a speed and efficiency that was surprising. Rapture watched as Adelheid worked to manipulate several different glyphs that she used to bounce her body across the ring, hitting Lach and Elizabeth as she went. This was followed by her two opponents teaming up to aim energy waves from their respective semblances at the Schnee girl until one finally hit her and sent her flying into the ring's wall. Getting back up, Adelheid cast several more glyphs – which encircled the interior of the ring – and then fired a Dust shot from her wand. An ice Dust cartridge shot out, detonated against one of the glyphs and then spread and bounced around all of the other glyphs before converging on the ring's centre.

Lach and Elizabeth were both frozen in place. Their legs frozen to the ground and their arms incapacitated by the massive chunks of ice covering portions of their bodies. Both of them grimaced in anger and annoyance before they both glowed and released their semblances in a wave of power, shattering the ice.

Rapture was distracted from the battle when she saw a shape impact the shield. A second later Tom appeared in the spot, his semblance fading away. He then picked himself up, a determined look on his face, and threw himself back into the fight. His sword was already crackling with lightning Dust which he shot out at Elizabeth with a swing of his arm. His partner, occupied with dealing with Lach, took the bolt of electricity in her back and jolted forward, crying out in surprise and pain.

Grimacing in discomfort and anger, Elizabeth steadied herself and lashed out with a kick that hit Tom and sent him falling to the ground. Thankfully, Tom had crossed his arms to block the blow and quickly stood back up again. Adelheid ran back in, her sword extended out to strike whilst her Dust wand was held back to fire when she needed it. The Schnee girl clashed first with Lach, leaping at his guarded position and then jumped off of him, using the momentum to land a blow on Elizabeth. Her blow was blocked, which left Adelheid almost hanging in the air for a moment, a moment she used to thrust her wand forward and hit Elizabeth with another ice Dust round.

Elizabeth braced against the Dust but found her arms bound as the ice formed over them. Adelheid leapt back and landed on the edge of the ring only to stumble and then collapse, falling to the ground as if she had been struck. She took several more blows from an invisible opponent before Tom reappeared again, running away from her to avoid a retaliatory strike. The boy looked desperate and worried but was still looking around for opportunities.

Lach, meanwhile, ran at Elizabeth as she struggled to free her arms. He folded his cutlass into its pistol form and fired shots as he charged, keeping his weapon steady. Elizabeth planted her feet and grimaced, trying to block the shots with her ice encrusted arms, hoping to shatter it with Lach's attacks. She then dodged Lach's blade as he folded it back into place and swung it down at her. Stepping aside, Elizabeth then slammed her arms into Lach, using the ice that was incapacitating her as a club and successfully breaking it apart as she hit the boy with all of her strength.

As Adelheid righted herself and prepared to pick out a new target, her sword and wand held at the ready and Tom whipping his head back and forth, keeping an eye out for targets or attacks, Lach and Elizabeth squared off against one another, Lach's blade and arm already glowed with the barely restrained energy his semblance had generated, Elizabeth standing across from him, was leering with violent glee as the air around her shimmered from her own semblance's power. Her massive chain-axe was back in her hands and held ready to strike in turn.

Rapture did notice that Tom had suddenly begun to panic as a look of concern flashed onto his face. He tried to call out but the general noise of the training ground drowned him out. Lach and Elizabeth both jumped at one another, their weapons lashing out and colliding. Both fighters released their semblances at the same time and a large explosion shook the ring, the floor around it and a large portion of the colosseum that the training grounds were contained in.

Rapture fell to the ground as the floor shuddered beneath her and covered her eyes as the flash of released energy and light hurt her eyes. The force of the explosion had thankfully been contained by the shields that surrounded the ring but the energy field was visibly flickering and about to break down. Team TEAL were all still in the ring but they were splayed on the floor, every one of them stunned by what had happened.

' _Attention,_ ' a robotic voice said over the colosseum tannoy system. ' _Due to sustained damage to the protective barrier, Combat Simulator Ring 17 has been designated "out of order." Please vacate the ring immediately. We apologise to those who wished to operate the facility and will inform the appropriate authorities so that the facility may be brought back into working order as soon as possible. Thank you and have a nice day._ '

Loud groaning followed the announcement as most of the observers began to complain about no longer being able to take their turn. Rapture watched as Team TEAL picked themselves up off of the floor, Tom looking very sheepish as he realised so many people were glaring at him and his team. Adelheid didn't hesitate to begin chewing Lach and Elizabeth out as they all got off of the ring.

Rapture decided she had had enough of the training grounds now that the fight was over. Despite her urge to distract herself she could no longer muster the energy to continue working out. She turned away to head towards the door when she heard Tom's voice all out.

'Rapture,' he shouted cheerily. Rapture turned around to see the diminutive team leader jogging towards her, weaving around the students in his way. 'I almost didn't see you there.'

'Well I'm not normally easy to miss,' Rapture replied with a half-hearted smile. 'I saw you've been improving there.'

'Thanks,' Tom said with an embarrassed smile. 'I guess that all the work is finally starting to pay off.'

'Yeah well don't drop it just yet,' Rapture said, still sounding unenthused. 'You can only get better from there.'

'Are you alright?' Tom suddenly asked, concern taking over his face.

'I'm fine, Tom,' Rapture replied. The moment she had finished speaking, though, Tom's look of concern turned into an irritated one.

'Really Rapture?' he said. 'You know, you've been in this slump for a while now. Everyone's noticed it.' He then paused, looking upset as his expression switched back to the concerned one he had worn before. 'Come on Rapture. Please, tell me what's eating at you.'

Rapture was surprised at the sudden display of assertiveness from the small boy in front of her. She knew he wasn't exactly a pushover but he had always been considerate and somewhat hesitant to actually order people around and the sudden way he had snapped at her threw her off balance.

'Sorry,' Rapture apologised. 'I've just been thinking about something for a while.'

'More like a week,' Tom quipped. 'What's been on your mind for so long?'

'It's not really anything important,' Rapture replied. 'Just a thing.'

Tom frowned and gave her a sceptical look. 'Do you want to go and get something before the party tonight?' he asked, suddenly looking and sounding nervous and embarrassed.

'Get something?' Rapture asked, confused and slightly embarrassed as well.

'You know like a drink,' Tom replied. 'I think it'll help take your mind off of that "thing."'

'Um, uh, sure,' Rapture stuttered and then sighed. 'Um, where would you like to go?'

'Well the cafeteria, to be honest,' Tom admitted sheepishly. 'I'm going to the party later so I can't really go off campus.'

'Oh,' Rapture replied. 'Alright then. Are we going now then?'

'Well I'm done here,' Tom said. 'Are you?'

'Yeah,' Rapture said in response. 'I'm done.'

'Right. Well let's go then,' Tom stammered for a moment, realising that she was in fact going to join him.

The two of them set out for the exit together, weaving through the crowd of students who were still arriving to use the facilities. The atmosphere still felt rather awkward but Rapture didn't realise that, for a while at least, she hadn't thought about the girl, the team she knew or the attack at the mall. She wasn't smiling or relaxed but the frown that had been present on her face for the past week was gone as well as she and the leader of Team TEAL walked out of the colosseum and in the direction of the cafeteria.

* * *

Like most of the school's other facilities, the Beacon cafeteria was almost full to capacity as students tried to find something to do. Without classes, all three attending years and even some of the fourth years were now interacting with one another all at once and with most of them planning to go to the party on campus as well, they weren't going down into the city either. This had the somewhat unfortunate effect of seeing the usual places students spent their time overflowing with people as everyone tried to use them like they normally would.

'So' Tom began as he and Rapture sat down at one of the tables. The rest of it was occupied but they had been lucky enough to find two spots across from one another from which they could talk. Both of them had coffee set in front of them, a drink that they had waited in line a long time to purchase.

'So?' Rapture asked in return, a deadpan expression on her face.

'So what's been on your mind all this time?' Tom asked. He had seemed rather awkward for most of the time they were in the cafeteria but had found his balance again now that he had begun talking.

Rapture opened her mouth to make some excuse and then paused. She sat there for a moment before shutting her mouth again and sitting back in her seat. She picked up her coffee and took another sip from it to try to delay talking but found she still couldn't find the words she was looking for.

'It's hard to explain,' she finally sighed.

'Take your time,' Tom replied. 'It's alright.'

Rapture sighed, slouched forward and put cupped her chin in her left hand which she rested on the table by her elbow. Frowning, she looked away from Tom and out into the cafeteria, her eyes following the table into the distance.

'Well it's about that team that fought the professor in combat class last week,' Rapture finally said after another short pause. 'You know Greta said there was a girl with them who she had seen at the mall?'

'Yeah,' Tom said, his expression seeming questioning.

'Well,' Rapture continued. 'I don't know why but I couldn't get that out of my mind. It's what Greta said about what that girl was doing there and the things with the police. I just can't stop, um, dwelling on it, I guess.'

'Well,' Tom tried to begin before pausing. 'I can't say I really understand what you're doing.' Tom admitted, looking slightly sheepish again. 'I mean, I understand what you're saying but… well.' His words died off as he visibly struggled of what to say.

'It's alright,' Rapture eventually said. 'I don't really need you to understand. It doesn't matter. I just haven't been able to think without it coming back up in my mind.'

'I guess you're very focused when you want to be,' Tom then said with an awkward smile and a small chuckle.

'More like single minded,' Rapture grunted back. 'I've seen Greta spacing out before and Aurora can get really stuck into things she's interested in but I've not usually had something stick in my head like that.'

'Is that why you were in the grounds today?' Tom asked, appearing concerned again.

'You saw that?' Rapture replied, looking a little embarrassed.

'You were there a while,' Tom returned. 'Also, like you said, you aren't easy to miss. You were tearing up the grounds when I came in with the others. It was a little frightening really.'

'Frightening,' Rapture said with a frown.

'Oh no, not like that,' Tom stuttered, putting his arms out in defence. 'It's just you were going at the equipment so hard. I hadn't seen you like that in a while. Not since the… well, the mall.'

'Really?' Rapture asked. She suddenly felt very worried and depressed as she realised she was likely acting the way she had when she was having issues with her team. She must have made an expression that gave her thoughts away as well because she noticed Tom trying to reach out to her.

'Are you alright?' he asked, likely knowing the answer.

'Was I really like that?' Rapture asked, her voice suddenly sounding quiet and weak.

'Well... I don't want to say you looked that, angry,' Tom replied hesitantly. 'You just looked like you were trying to distract yourself.'

Rapture sighed and slumped forward, pushing her drink aside and lowering her head into her crossed arms which lay on the table. She groaned in frustration as she tried to put her tumultuous thoughts and feelings back into order. She hadn't felt this confused in a long time. Even the time when she was angry with her team after the mall attack hadn't been this bad or directionless. At the very least, back then, she had been able to target her rage and frustration at Greta and the rest of the team.

'I'd ask if you were alright, you know,' Tom suddenly said, causing Rapture to look up from her arms at him. 'I know that's not probably going to get me anywhere, though. I'm just going to say you should probably drink your coffee before it gets cold. A drink might help, though I should have recommended tea or something. That's usually more relaxing.'

Rapture sighed and picked herself back up, ignoring the looks from the people nearby who had just watched her little display and were still commenting on it. Getting their attention like that annoyed her but she, once again, didn't feel invested enough to make anything of it. She picked up her coffee and took a sip and then bigger gulp.

'You sure this helps?' Rapture asked, still feeling unsure of what to do.

'Well I said tea normally does the job better,' Tom replied with a small smile. 'This was always my uncle's thing anyway. He would sit me down in his big lounge with a pot of tea and make me drink it with him if I was upset, or angry, or just looked like I had nothing better to do.' Tom looked away as he spoke, the smile on his face getting a little larger with every word.

'And that happened a lot?' Rapture said, surprised at the faraway expression Tom had just made. He didn't often look like this, at least when she was around.

'All the time,' Tom chuckled as he responded to her. 'I think I spent most of my time at home drinking tea with him.'

"Home?" Rapture thought, hanging on that word. 'So he raised you?'

'Oh, yeah,' Tom replied. 'My parents died when I was a baby and he decided to adopt me.'

'I… I'm sorry to hear that,' Rapture said. 'I didn't mean to bring it up.'

'Don't be sorry. I'm the one who brought it up.' Tom took another drink. 'I don't really remember and if I do start wondering what they were like I always have letters and pictures. Underhills are a very tightly knit lot and always make sure that the family have plenty to remember them by.' Rapture noticed that the boy's smile was looking a little bit more forced now as he continued. 'I will admit that it gets to me sometimes, but at least I know there's something I can look at to tell me who they were.'

'Oh, I, guess I see,' Rapture said. 'It's nice to know that you're good with that.'

'How about you?' Tom then asked. 'Uh, as long as I'm not intruding.'

'No, no,' Rapture responded. 'I've not really got much to talk about. I have a mum, a dad, they're both still together and worked to get me into this school. They try to write to me every now and then but the mail tend to lose or forget stuff that comes out of the ghettoes.'

'Well they must have worked hard then,' Tom said. 'I mean I don't really know that much about the capital but considering how expensive it is to get in here it must have been difficult.'

'Took me forever to notice,' Rapture continued. 'I mean I appreciated it but it wasn't until I was done with Signal that I really figured it out.'

Tom nodded in understanding. He sat back and leisurely took another sip from his drink. There was a long pause as Rapture realised she didn't know what to say next. Frowning in confusion, she picked up her coffee and began drinking it again.

'So,' Tom suddenly said. 'Have you talked to your team about this?'

'Huh,' Rapture grunted, shaken from her thoughts. It had been over a minute since either of them had spoken and she had managed to get lost in her thoughts for a few seconds. 'Um, none of them,' she admitted.

'So I'm the first,' he replied, sounding tired. He put his drink down, looking like he had finished with it.

'Well, yes,' Rapture said. She then paused for a moment. 'You think I should talk to them about this don't you?'

'Yes,' Tom responded in a flat tone. 'Yes, I do. If what you're going through has been going on for as long as it has, then its best you actually talk to them. You do have to live with them for the next four odd years after all.'

'You'd think they would have tried to ask me if its so important,' Rapture grumbled slightly.

'Well, it's difficult asking people stuff like this isn't it,' Tom then said. 'I mean would you really go up to Greta, or Peter, or Aurora if they were spending time by themselves like you were?'

'Well… I, um,' Rapture hesitantly stuttered. 'Probably not,' she finally admitted.

'Then the only person who can really work this out is you,' Tom continued. 'I know that sounds really cliché but it's true.'

'You're serious aren't you?' Rapture asked, trying to avoid the issue as long as she could.

'Yes,' Tom answered bluntly. His tone looked surprisingly stoic as he looked Rapture in the eye. 'You shouldn't sit on this. It's only going to hurt people.'

'Fine,' Rapture finally sighed out, slumping forward in her seat. 'I'll talk to her about this when I can. I don't really know what she could do about it though.'

'I just think telling her about this will help you,' Tom said. 'Trust me, everything we're doing her is what my uncle usually did. It helped me. It should be able to help you.'

'Alright,' Rapture finally acquiesced. 'I'll give it a go.' She then smirked as she remembered what happened the last time she tried to hide from her team. 'I guess doing this will keep them from fighting me to get us all to talk.'

'Yeah,' Tom replied, a chuckle escaping his lips. 'Just go up to them and tell them what's wrong. You'll feel better for it. I'm sure.'

'Thanks, Tom,' Rapture said. She then looked up at the clock that hung on the wall opposite her. 'Oh, looks like I'll have to get back to the dorm. I did decide to go to the party tonight and I need to get ready.'

'It's not a problem,' Tom waved off her concerns as he stood up. 'I'm going as well. I'll probably see you there as well.'

'See you tonight then,' Rapture said, a small smile on her face. She felt a little better, her thoughts slightly more stable and concrete.

The two of them walked out, their coffee cups empty and quickly binned as they walked out of the cafeteria. Rapture continued to chat with Tom as they walked up to their dorms, the both of them talking about the party, their plans for the Vytal Festival – which Tom, as a team leader, talked about the most – and whether or not they would visit the city to attend the celebrations tomorrow.

Rapture felt a lot better by the time she reached her dorm room. Giving a nod of farewell to Tom as they walked through their respective doors, Rapture entered the room to find empty.

"Great," Rapture thought as she looked around to she was, in fact, alone. "I guess I'll have to find her at the party."

* * *

The Beacon Sanctonoct Party was a surprisingly large and well attended event when it got underway. By the time the evening had come around, several hundred students had arrived, the music had started and the buffet table had been opened up to the attendees.

Greta sat at one of the tables that had been set up along the wall. She had been at the party for about an hour already, having gone ahead of the rest of her team. After spending much of the afternoon trying and failing to find Rapture, she had returned to the dorms to find Aurora getting ready. Her dark-skinned teammate had then told her Peter was also back from his visit to the school's shrines and was preparing in the bathroom as well. Questions about whether or not they had seen Rapture during the day unfortunately proved to be fruitless and Greta had finally given up and decided to go to party. With any luck she might run into Rapture there though it was unlikely, after all, Rapture never seemed the type to go to these events.

Greta leaned back in her chair and took a sip from a cup of punch she had picked up from the buffet table. Her chosen costume for the party had been a witch outfit that primarily consisted of a long black dress with a wide-brimmed pointed hat, both of which she had picked up from discount bins at rather cheap clothing stores. She wore her regular t-shirt and trousers underneath the long dress and had grabbed one of the cleaning brooms from the dorm's utility closet before she came. She was sure the janitors wouldn't miss it for a few hours. Of course it wasn't a proper broomstick but that hadn't really mattered to her, it was available and, above all, free.

She was wondering if the effort was worth it now though as she hadn't really found much to do at the party, her teammates had all said they would be arriving later than her because of their own costumes and her witch getup was starting to get very uncomfortable now that the hall was full of people. Greta tugged at the hem of the dress to try to let some air in and was annoyed at the trickles of sweat that fell down the front of her neck and onto her hand when she did so.

'Are you alright?' someone asked, jolting Greta out of her thoughts. Greta turned around to see a boy walking towards her. The figure's height and voice immediately gave it away as Tom but Greta was impressed by the costume had put together.

Tom was wearing a green-ish jumpsuit that had thicker portions of cloth sewn onto the forearms, thighs, chest and crotch of the suit and then dyed the same colour. Tom's face was also painted green and he had long fake ears on his head that stuck out in a floppy fashion. His hands were covered by padded gloves that had several plastic claws attached to the end. The entire ensemble looked home-made, with a fair amount of attention and detail.

'Oh hi Tom,' Greta said in greeting. 'I'm fine, just kinda hot. What's your costume?'

'Like it?' Tom asked. 'I'm a gremlin.'

'Cool,' Greta remarked. 'Uh, it looks home-made. Did you make it yourself?'

Tom blushed and bashfully looked away. 'Yeah,' he eventually said. 'I've been working on it for a while now. Is yours a witch?'

'Really,' the voice of Aurora called out. Greta turned around to see her teammate had finally arrived as well. She was dressed in a dark outfit that drew the eye. Greta noticed Aurora had an amused expression that grew more pronounced as she looked the team leader up and down. 'Oh, not that kind I see.'

'Wait, what?' Greta asked, confused about Aurora was saying.

'I'm a Witch,' Aurora replied. She paused as she saw no comprehension from the others. 'You know? The humanoid Grimm.'

'Oh,' Greta said. She paused as what Aurora had said finally sank in. 'Oh, wow. That's a, uh… an interesting choice.'

Looking closer Greta saw Aurora was wearing a long, black, one-piece dress that covered the entirety of her body and was wrapped in an even longer, black cloak that dragged behind her for nearly a foot. Her hair had also been put up in pair of rings that were held in place by her headdress. To complete the eerie presentation, her face was also painted completely white with red lines drawn on the edge that ran up behind her ears.

'Thank, you,' Aurora replied, a smile appearing on her ghostly white face. 'It took a while to get the make-up right so I'm sorry I took so long.'

'Oh, wow,' a new voice said. 'This is certainly interesting.'

Greta turned to see Adelheid walking towards them. The Schnee heiress was dressed in an ornate dress with lace covering the white bustle that jutted out behind her at her waist and opened up at the front, the parting splitting at the knee to reveal white high-heeled shoes with silver lining around the rims at the ankles. The blouse and corset she wore over her torso and chest were a silvery white with icy blue lining and had a similar blue shawl over the top. She still wore her tiara but her hair was raised up in a higher ponytail that was supported by ribbed scrunchie. She was also walking with even more refined poise that seemed to make her glide through the crowd. It appeared Adelheid was trying her hardest not to appear like she was struggling with the heat of her outfit in the stuffy hall.

'I never thought I would see someone dress as a Grimm,' Adelheid said with a single eyebrow raised. 'Aren't you worried that people might find that inappropriate.'

'Well no-one's complained yet,' Aurora replied, raising her head a little higher. 'And who are you supposed to be?' she then asked, her tone still friendly.

'I am the queen of Atlas,' Adelheid said with a curtsey, a smile on her face and an imperious tone to her voice. 'I worked hard to have a copy of the outfit she wore at her coronation made for me.'

'So we have a gremlin, two different witches and a queen?' Tom asked. 'You know, I thought I was trying too hard when I put this together.'

'Well mine's not really that impressive,' Greta admitted. 'So,' she then began, changing the subject, 'do you know when the other's will be coming?'

'Rapture told me she'd be coming,' Tom piped up. 'I was actually going to ask if you'd seen her.'

'I tried to find her,' Greta said, 'but I didn't have any luck.'

'Yeah,' Aurora added. 'I do know Peter's coming but he still wasn't finished with his costume when I left.'

It was then that another figure stepped out of the crowd, several looks being drawn to it. It was a girl of average height wearing a red dress that ran down to the middle of her thighs. The dress was bright crimson but accentuated by golden lines along the collar and down its long sleeves. A slit ran up the dress from the hem to its waist, revealing a black under-dress underneath it. The slit was topped by a feathered clasp that held it together at the figure's waist. High-heeled shoes that had been varnished to a glassy sheen gracefully stepped over the floor and the figure, quite clearly a woman, wore her red hair down and covering one of her eyes.

'I… is that Elizabeth?' Tom asked, recognising his partner as she sent their group a superior smirk.

'What is she doing?' Adelheid then snapped, completely shocked as she stared at her teammate. 'That outfit… that's. it's...'

'I don't get it,' Greta said as Elizabeth walked over to them. 'Who is she supposed to be?'

'I'm Cinder Fall,' Elizabeth said as she finally stepped up to their table, 'and I have to say, I'm surprised how well this all came together.'

'That is completely inappropriate,' Adelheid seethed, glaring angrily at Elizabeth. 'What were you thinking?'

'This is Sanctonoct, right?' Elizabeth countered, frowning defensively. 'It's the night where we're connected with the afterlife and monsters. What's more monstrous than this? Besides, Aurora's dressed as Cinder's mistress.'

'Wow,' Aurora muttered. 'She picked my outfit up rather quickly.'

'True,' Adelheid conceded, still glaring at Elizabeth in anger. 'But, Cinder Fall? Don't you Valesians hate her more than anyone else?'

'Of course we hate her,' Elizabeth shot back. 'I hate her but don't see why deciding to dress up as her for a fancy dress party should be such a big deal.'

'I… I don't believe it,' Adelheid finally mumbled, slumping her shoulders and head in theatrical defeat. 'You know what? Fine, but don't blame me if anything bad happens because of this.'

'As if anything's going to happen because of a costume,' Elizabeth drawled sardonically, rolling her eyes.

'Hello everyone,' Peter's voice drifted over the group. 'Did I miss anythi… oh wow.' Peter's voice trailed off as he finally got a look at everyone's outfits and finally laid his eyes on Aurora and Elizabeth. 'Those are certainly…,' his voice trailed off and his expression looked uncertain as he tried to find the right word, 'interesting choices.'

Greta finally took a look at what Peter was wearing and was surprised to see him dressed in a dark suit with a stark, white shirt, a red cravat tucked into it and a long, high collared cloak over the top. His face, like Aurora's had been painted completely white and it looked like there were two slightly bulged points underneath his upper lip. Greta spent a couple of seconds trying to figure out what her partner was supposed to be until she finally realised.

'You're a vampire?' Greta asked tenuously, surprised at Peter's choice of costume.

'I know its rather simplistic but I'm not particularly good at these kinds of events,' Peter said, looking a little bashful. 'I personally prefer more formal affairs. The outfits I'm expected to wear are a bit more consistent there.'

'Well it seems everyone's nearly here,' Tom pointed out with a smile. 'I wonder when Lach and Rapture will arrive.'

'Oh I'm here now,' Lach's voice quickly added. Everyone turned to see him approach with a slightly flamboyant swagger.

At first Greta thought Lach had come in his usual clothes. He seemed to be wearing a pair of dark trousers with knee high boots, a striped t-shirt and a dusty overcoat over it all. The clothes he was wearing, with the exception of his coat and boots, seemed to be much cleaner and less sturdy. They were likely newly bought by him though the slight signs of wear gave away the fact that they had probably come from a discount or second-hand bin. Lach was wearing an eyepatch over his left eye and had a black tricorn hat on his head. At sword was strapped at his hip but everyone who looked at it – having spent their entire lives around weapons – could tell it was plastic and blunt. Lach's face wore an exuberant smile and a cup of punch was already in his hand.

'Sorry I kept ya all waitin' for so long,' Lach apologised as he walked up to the group. 'I had a couple of things to take care of.'

'Well now that you're here I guess that just means we have to wait for Rapture,' Tom said happily, looking to Greta for confirmation. Greta smiled and Tom's smile grew a little wider.

'Do you mind if we step outside when she arrives?' Adelheid asked, looking flushed and uncomfortable. 'It's getting unbearable in here.'

'Here, here,' Peter added. He looked flush as well and pulled at his collar for a second as if to air his outfit.

'Well I think we should all take a seat,' Aurora then said. She also looked uncomfortable as she took several deep breathes, her own cheeks red from the heat.

Agreeing with Aurora, the entire group grabbed chairs and all crowded around the table. Several left to get drinks but quickly returned. Greta heard them all chat amongst one another but she wasn't paying attention. The mention of Rapture had once again reminded her of what she had been waiting for. With all the elaborate costumes that her wealthier friends were showing off, she was surprised to see that Rapture hadn't shown up sooner. Then again, it was likely that the faunus girl was simply hiding, or trying to put off attending the party despite promising to take part.

'Guys,' Peter suddenly said, cutting through the various conversations, leaving Adelheid, who he had been chatting with, rather annoyed at the interruption. 'Someone's coming.'

Greta turned to see Rapture walking towards them through the crowd. She smiled for a moment, finally happy to see that her teammate had shown up and then felt worried. Now that Rapture was here she would get the opportunity to talk to her. Greta wasn't sure how that would go down and didn't want another fight. Hopefully the fact that they were in public, in a crowded space would keep things civil, if only for fear of making even worse impressions on people.

As Rapture got closer she saw that Rapture had a rather threadbare costume. She was dressed in casual clothes with slightly worn, blue jeans and a shirt that had been tattered in a few places with a stark white vest visible underneath. The bizarre part of the ensemble was the pale paint she had applied to her face.

'Rapture,' Tom called out, eliciting a small smile from the faunus girl. 'You finally made it.'

'Sorry I'm late,' Rapture said, embarrassed as she pulled up a chair. 'I didn't really have much of a costume in mind and I spent ages wondering if it was even worth dressing up.'

'What are you supposed to be?' Elizabeth asked, a confused expression on her face as she studied Rapture.

'Well,' Rapture replied bashfully, 'I'm supposed to be a zombie.'

'Did you use my make-up?' Aurora asked, suddenly looking very angry.

'No,' Rapture replied. 'I used Peter's.'

'What?!' Peter snapped, rising in his set and fixing Rapture with a glare.

'You use make up?' Lach asked, giving Peter a surprised and amused glance.

'That actually explains some things,' Tom muttered as everyone watched Peter flush red with anger and embarrassment.

'Since Rapture is now here,' Aurora then interrupted. 'Shall we all go outside? I think we all could use a somewhat cooler scene.'

'Sounds good to me,' Greta said. 'Come on everyone.'

She received several nods of agreement from the others and the group stood up to walk to one of the balconies attached to the ground floor of the hall. The grounds the hall was based on were higher than much of the rest of the campus and offered an elevated view of much of the school. Greta went over to the edge of the balcony and laid against it as she tried to recover from the stuffiness and the heat of the hall.

'Greta,' she then heard Rapture said. Turning to the face the faunus girl, Greta found her teammate standing by the balcony next to her, looking a little uncomfortable. 'I'd, uh, like to talk to you about something.'

'Uh, sure, go ahead,' Greta said, both confused and somewhat relieved. She had been worried about finding the best time to approach Rapture but thankfully the faunus girl had resolved that issue herself.

'I… well,' Rapture began, noticeably struggling to find whatever words she was looking for. 'Uh, I don't normally do this,' she mumbled in exasperation as she looked at the ground and tried to avoid looking Greta in the eye. 'Look, it's about how I've been acting for the past few days.'

'Yeah,' Greta said, prompting Rapture to continue.

'I've been thinking about what you said after combat classes last week,' Rapture finally admitted. 'It's been stuck in my head for days now and I really don't know why or what I could do about it. It's just there... and I know that I want to find out more but I don't know what I could do.'

'Well,' Greta began and then faltered. What was she supposed to say in this situation? What could she say?

'I, um…' she tried to start again but was still left confused and completely unknowing of what to say. 'Why?' she suddenly blurted out before she could stop herself. She shut her mouth but then saw Rapture was giving her a quizzical look, almost begging her to continue. 'Why do you want to do anything about it?'

Rapture glared angrily in response and Greta ended up biting her lower lip in panic. She was expecting Rapture to start snapping at her again, maybe start another fight and drag everyone else in again. It would be a repeat of the last fight with all the awkwardness, difficult soul-searching and false starts to apologies that had accompanied it.

'Do you want to know why?' Rapture suddenly said, startling Greta. She could only nod in return, giving Rapture the go ahead to continue.

'It's cause the attack got to me,' Rapture explained. She looked a little unsure of her answers as she spoke but she didn't stop. 'People died there, they died in front of me, in front of all of us and it was because of a faunus, a faunus from a group that claims to want to get back at society for what it does to my kind. Do you know how I felt after all of that got to sink in?' Greta could only shake her head as she listened to her teammate spill her guts to her.

'I think I'd only just got my head together when I said we needed to do something,' Rapture continued. 'Then suddenly you and everyone else were saying that we should ignore it and I got angry and well… you know the rest. I thought I'd gotten over it all and the you go and mention that older girl who was at the crime scene with the police. Now, well – I think I've only just figured it out – but I want to… something, anything about that attack and that girl is… a clue? A lead? I don't know but she's been in my head because of that.'

Greta felt almost overwhelmed by what Rapture had just told her. She turned away from her teammate a little to get her thoughts back in order and it was then that she noticed they had gained an audience. Peter and Adelheid, who had been having their own conversation when she leaned against the balcony, were giving them aside glances even as they pretended to continue their own talk. Aurora was looking back into the hall but Greta could tell she wasn't paying that view any attention. Her expression was one of worry and her eyes would dart at Rapture to see if she was going to carry on. Lach, Elizabeth and Tom weren't as subtle, looking at the two of them directly, Tom even wore a very concerned look on his face.

'Do you want to find somewhere to talk?' Greta asked, saying the first thing that came to mind. The nod she got from Rapture spurred both of them to go back into the hall and find a table in the corner where they could properly discuss the problem.

* * *

'I can't believe you talked me into this,' Zarina Ocula seethed as she stalked forward, hunched over as if she was trying to hide herself despite being in the middle of an avenue.

'Oh come on,' Selene Lupina said, grinning cheekily. 'It's a fancy dress party. Live a little.'

'I live plenty thank you,' Zarina shot back, fixing her leader with a glare. 'I was, however, happy observing Heiligenacht's prayers and then watching a movie. I did not need you dragging me to this party in _this_ _outfit_.' She emphasised the end of her statement by spitting the words out.

Selene smirked before chuckling a little. She, herself, couldn't quite believe that she had managed to talk Zarina into going to the party, nor that she had managed to convince the girl to let her pick the costume. It was probably because Zarina hadn't really been paying attention to what she was saying at the time but a deal had been made and Team SWRZ took those very seriously.

Now Selene sauntered down the avenue dressed in a facsimile of knight's armour. It was made of plastic and aluminium and was feather-light compared to her actual equipment. The ensemble was painted silver with stripes of valorous blue and gold along the edges and on various other places the designer had decided made the whole thing look more heroic with a comically oversized plastic sword strapped to the back for good measure. Selene rather liked the look despite it being so cheesy. It was a simple image of what a warrior should be and she could see the appeal of being dressed in what people imagined a hero's outfit should be, even if the female variant she had bought came with a, supposedly, form fitting cuirass that made her breasts look like they were trying desperately to launch themselves off of her chest.

It also came with a large, striking, dark red cloak but that was currently being worn by Zarina. Selene had decided to spare the other girl's feelings and let her borrow it as they walked to the party but she had decided that her teammate wasn't going to keep it all night.

The two of them made their up to the main hall in a matter of minutes. The party had already been going on for a while and they could hear the sound of people and some relatively quiet and supposedly sinister music. Selene smiled as they walked through the door, Zarina still hunched over and looking nervous.

'Alright, Zarina,' she said, looking at her teammate with a wry expression, 'time to give me my cloak back.'

'What?!' Zarina almost shrieked, giving Selene an incredulous look.

'I need it for my outfit so give it to me,' Selene replied with a calm tone. 'I let you wear it here but we agreed to give it back later.'

'Bu… but,' Zarina stammered, blushing furiously. 'We're still outside.'

'No we're inside,' Selene countered. 'Come on, you'll be fine.' She then gave Zarina a stern look. 'Do I have to start pulling rank or would you rather I rip it off you?'

Zarina almost seemed to shake as she clung to the cloak a little longer. For several seconds neither said anything as Selene stared her teammate down.

'Fine,' Zarina finally spat out. 'Fucking, spoilt, bitch,' she then mumbled under her breath. Selene heard it but didn't say anything, just giving another amused smirk.

Zarina slipped off the cloak and then reluctantly handed it over to Selene who threw it on and then attached it to the clips on her cuirass. She had decided, several days before the party that Zarina would probably go as something related to magic and so had gotten her a sorceress outfit from the same high-end costume store that made her mock hero armour. Of course for fun she had picked out one of the more interesting options they had there.

It was primarily based around a black, clinging leotard with purple lining. Curved, aluminium shoulder pads were then placed on top whilst the waist had a deep red belt that held two armoured segments that ran from the waist to the upper thigh but didn't enclose that portion of the body entirely. There were spaced gaps at both the front and back so that the armour only covered the sides of Zarina's hips. Her legs were covered up to the knee by armoured graves that were attached on hinges at the ankle to a pair of stylised high-heels. All of the armour was sprayed black with a varnish texture on top to make it shine like glass or obsidian. Finally, over the chest was a steel plate brassiere that was filled with spaces carved to look like symbols and, in the end, made the thing look more like a threadbare, metal bikini top rather than any kind of cuirass. Dressed as she was, Zarina looked like a villainess from a bad Mistrali movie.

'I can't believe you made me do this,' Zarina seethed as she flushed red and crossed her arms to try to cover up without making it too obvious.

'Well you did let me pick your costume,' Selene said. 'So this is partly on you.'

'Go through all the hells, Selene,' Zarina spat out. 'You're giving me that cloak back when I decide to leave.'

She walked off into the room, probably to find a seat in a corner where she could keep herself out of sight. Selene simply began to chuckle in return as she watched her teammate walk off in a huff.

'Did I really just see that?' a new voice asked. Selene brightened as she turned around to see Wilhelm Augustine walk into the hall along with his brother Darius and Olivia Van Rot from Team GOLD.

Wilhelm and Darius were both dressed in suits of armour not that different from hers though Darius' had golden lining on the metal and plastic and Wilhelm had burgundy lining. Olivia, on the other hand, had something very different on. She was dressed in a white sheet that she had folded over to look like a toga. She had a golden belt around her waist and faux wicker sandals on her feet. On her head was a transparent plastic headband with a glass rod sticking out of that back that held up a golden plastic halo over her head. What was most surprising, however, was the large pair of white, feathered wings sticking out of her back.

'Olivia,' Selene said, almost stunned by what she was seeing. 'Are those…?'

'Yeah,' Olivia replied in a flat tone.

'Wow,' Selene said in response. 'Just, wow.'

Selene had rarely talked to the girl but her frequent talks with Geoffrey had eventually revealed an important secret about Olivia Van Rot. She was a faunus and the wings attached to her back, which she normally kept well hidden at the expense of her own comfort, were very real.

Selene's discovery of the girl's heritage in their first year hadn't improved their relationship, working or otherwise, back then. The faunus were animals, murderers and traitors, petty criminals at best and wholly untrustworthy. Back then everyone thought that Olivia was just another beast undeservedly given a place in Atlas because of one of the Schnee Dust Company charity scholarships. After team placements were done, things had apparently been tense in Team GOLD and though Selene didn't actually know the details, it had taken a lot for Olivia to prove to everyone that she wasn't going to do something that would ruin her team or betray the trust of Atlas.

Now Selene just regarded the girl as a colleague and one that could be relied upon to obey orders, like any well trained animal. They even talked to one another now though the conversations were short. It didn't really matter though. Things were cordial enough and if she did have to talk to Olivia they knew they could be civil with one another, even comradely at the right times. If there were any problems it wasn't like it was her responsibility to deal with them, that was strictly Geoffrey's area.

'Well then,' she then said, giving them all a wide smile. 'Gentlemen,' she nodded to Wilhelm and Darius, 'Olivia,' she then said after a lengthy pause where she regarded the bird girl closely. 'Let's go and have fun.'

* * *

'Okay,' Greta started as she and Rapture found a seat in one of the hall's corner alcoves.

'Okay?' Rapture repeated the word with a curious tone. 'You said you wanted to talk still.'

'I…,' Greta began. 'Well, I wanted to know why you were upset and I guess you told me. Just,' Greta paused, bracing for whatever reaction she got for to her question, 'why do you care so much about this. I thought you didn't care about faunus rights and everything like that.'

'It's not like that,' Rapture replied, glowering. 'Do you know where I grew up?' she asked. When Greta shook her head Rapture continued. 'I was born in the Hammerssen District. It's a faunus ghetto.' Greta nodded, prompting her to continue. 'My parents worked so hard, day in and day out to save up enough money to get me out of there and into Beacon because, well… the ghetto's run by gangs.'

'Right,' Greta said encouraging her teammate to continue.

'Well I've said what I think of the faunus rights movement before, right?' Rapture asked. 'The gangs always said shit like faunus needed to stick together so that they could get idiots to join up with them. It was always about getting as many people on board to help them fight all the others for the district. I grew up with all the gunfights, the brawls, the riots and everything but my family would just keep working hard no matter how many times some moron showed up to try to convince them or me to sign up with their groups.' She then sighed as she slumped forward and put her head in her hands.

'By the time I got here I thought I was over all of that,' Rapture then continued. 'Racial solidarity was a load of bull that people used to trick you into joining up with their gangs. My parents had always told me to ignore that and just concentrate on being myself. I had decided all I wanted to do was become a Huntress, to make people's lives better but really to make my parents' lives better. I wanted to get the money I'd need to take them out of the ghetto. Put them somewhere they deserved to be. I could ignore who I was, what I was and move on, even if other people,' she sneered as she said the last two words, 'couldn't.'

'Then the attack happened.' Rapture's looked unsettled as she recalled the shooting they had survived. 'People died, like, right in front of me. I'd seen people get hurt in the gang wars and I heard about people dying on the streets but I'd never actually seen it. It got to me,' Rapture hiccuped a little and there were tears on the edge of her eyes. 'I mean, these were ordinary people and the guy who killed them was a faunus who was doing it in the name of all of my kind. He painted a target on me that I had never seen before. Suddenly everything I'd tried to build up to make me forget that I was really different from the rest of you was gone. I just couldn't forget that I was a faunus and that one of my own… well, people did that.'

'You know,' Greta began in a tone she hoped was comforting. 'That had nothing to do with you. It's not your fault.'

'You don't think I don't know that?' Rapture suddenly snapped, tears still in her eyes. 'The Red Fang are indiscriminate killers who would have attacked anyone. It's just that… he had to pick that day.' once again, Rapture put her head in her hands and looked down at the table.

'I…,' she then stuttered. 'I… I wanted to… to get back at him. Get back at all of them.' Rapture was now speaking through gritted teeth. 'I think I've been wanting this all the time since it happened and now you gave me something to work with.' Rapture looked back up at Greta with a forlorn look. 'I just want to...' she trailed off as she looked past Greta.

'What?' Greta said, now confused.

'She's right there,' Rapture said, blinking several times to get rid of the tears.

'Huh?' Greta grunted. She span around in her seat and saw the girl, dressed in a white toga with feathered wings attached to her back chatting with several other students, a cup of punch in hands. 'Oh,' Greta said. 'You're right.'

'Yeah,' Rapture sighed, frustrated. 'I need something for this,' she then said.

'Something?' Greta asked. She was a little concerned about the way Rapture was acting. She hadn't seen her break down like this since the big fight.

'A clue,' Rapture said. 'Now I get why she's always in the back of my head. Why was she there? Why did she get access to criminal evidence? Why were the police letting her in so easily? Don't act like you haven't thought all of this.'

'Well, yeah,' Greta replied. 'I guess I have.'

'Then help me find out why,' Rapture then said. Greta blanched and almost recoiled in surprise at what Rapture said.

'I'm, sorry but… what?' Greta stuttered, unsure if she had heard her teammate correctly.

'Help me find out who they are and why they were investigating a Red Fang murder,' Rapture said. 'I need to find this out and I'm going to. Are you with me?'


	5. Chapter Five: Suspicions Part Three

**Chapter** **F** **ive** **:** **Suspicions Part T** **hree** **:**

 **November 1** **st** **1462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

The day after Sanctonoct was one of the most popular holidays in the Valesian calendar. With the nightly festivities over, people were flocking to public places, organising more relaxed parties with friends and family and preparing for the next part of the holiday events. The main public square in the central district of the Vale capital city was now filled with people who had come to attend the main celebration. The square was a massive space nearly half a mile across that lay in front of the palace of the Valesian royal family.

The square was filled to the bursting point with people who had come to celebrate. There were already plans set up for a small series of speeches by various important guests that would then be followed by feasts set up in nearby communal centres like the regional district hall. Many of the people in the square were those who would be attending the feasts and would be guided to the halls after the speeches were done. These later events were available to visitors who had paid for tickets but plenty of others had simply come to the square to hear the initial speeches that were being given, in person.

A pavilion had been set up at one of the ends of the square, just in front of the palace's gates. In front of that was a collapsible stage with speakers around at the back and a podium in front of them. Here was where the VIPs were being held, ready to make their speeches and announce the beginning of the day's festivities and amongst them was the headmaster of Beacon Academy.

Jaune Arc yawned as he laid back in the seat prepared for him and waited for the ceremony to start. He was currently seated in the pavilion along with the others and waiting for his turn to go up on stage. As headmaster of Beacon, he had been invited to represent the school for the main event. He wasn't particularly excited about the prospect of making another annual speech before the public but it was expected of him and he had built a reputation for talking to and with people since the war.

"I've still got Beacon's other parties to do after this is over," he thought, letting out a small sigh.

He had arrived several hours earlier to be prepared for the event, going through make-up and other intense preparations in order to be ready. The fact that the event was televised every year convinced everyone involved to put extra effort in trying to make the whole thing look good.

He looked around the tent he was in, taking in the small amount of scenery around him. He had already scanned his surroundings several times and knew everyone who was in there. He lazily turned his head, occasionally meeting the gaze of the celebrities and politicians who had also been invited along with him. King Aldrick was scheduled to show up a little bit later for security reasons but once he was there then they could begin.

His mind began to wander again just as he heard his scroll ring. Jaune hadn't been expecting any calls and knew that the only reason he would be receiving anything would be in the event of an emergency. Pulling his scroll out and looking at the caller ID, he was even more surprised by the identity that appeared on the screen. "Ruby Rose," the scroll read, followed by, "encrypted channel."

'Uh guys,' Jaune said, getting the attention of several other guests as well as several staff members. 'I've got to take this.'

The staff nodded, giving Jaune permission to step out of the pavilion. Jaune walked out, taking a moment to see if anyone was close enough to overhear him and then pressed the accept button on his scroll.

'Ruby,' he said quietly, just in case people could still hear him. 'What is it?'

'Hi Jaune,' Ruby said quickly. She sounded impatient even though she had just decided to give him a proper greeting. 'The Society's gone.'

'They're what?' Jaune whispered harshly, wincing as he realised he had raised his voice again.

'They're gone,' she said. 'I got to Ostensia, I was literally right behind them but when I actually tried to break into the hideout it was empty.'

'Right, right,' Jaune replied. 'Was there anything you did find before that?'

'No,' Ruby said in a disappointed tone. 'They had the package from before but the hideout was uninhabited. When I got in it looked like they'd never even been there.'

Jaune sighed and paused for a moment as he tried to rethink his plans. 'Do you have any other leads?'

'No,' Ruby replied, still disappointed. 'I've got nothing other than that feeling I used to get around portals during the war. If they have used those there's no way I can track them.'

'Great,' Jaune groaned into his scroll. 'Alright. I'll call up the others in Mistral and ask them to keep an eye out for anything.' He paused again as he quickly deliberated over another big decision. 'Come back to Vale for now. I need you for something over here.'

'Vale?' Ruby asked for a moment, sounding surprised. 'Uh, sure. I'll get over there as soon as I can. Any reason why?'

'I can't tell you over a scroll,' Jaune replied. 'Don't worry too much though. I'll tell you everything once you're here.'

'Alright,' Ruby said. 'I guess I'll see you soon.'

'See you soon, Ruby,' Jaune said with a small smile. 'Love you.'

Ruby gave her own farewell, giving him her love as well and soon Jaune heard the receiver on his scroll announce that the call was over. Switching his scroll off again, he pocketed it and turned back towards the pavilion. He was about to walk back into the tent when something on the edge of the square caught his eye.

A large delivery truck was approaching the square. Most traffic had been detoured for the day in order to allow the public to gather in the square and only vehicles involved with either the media or VIPs were permitted anywhere near the event. The moment he saw the truck move out of the street and into the square he began to hear the screams. People were crying out as the large machine barrelled through the crowded square, ramming into people, crushing those in its way and knocking others to the side. Wails of sudden terror grew louder and louder as people became aware of the danger they were in and soon the crowd was beginning to move.

Jaune was stunned for a moment as he watched the carnage quickly unfold. As the truck drew closer he began to see in greater detail, the damage it was doing. Suddenly the entire calm atmosphere of the square was gone. People ran in all directions, screaming in fear, knocking over one another and trampling those who fell to the ground. Blood covered the front of the truck as more and more people impacted with it. It refused to slow down even as it ploughed through the bulk of the gathered crowd and soon aimed itself towards the pavilion.

Snapping himself out of his shocked stupor, Jaune ran into the pavilion. 'Everyone get out now!' he shouted at the tent's occupants.

With barely a moment's hesitation, the staff ran and grabbed the closest VIPs before shuttling them out of the tent and away towards the palace. Security forces came forward to secure the entrances and hurry the other staff along in ferrying the guests until the wall of the tent imploded.

The tent collapsed completely as one of the walls crumpled inwards, taking several tent poles with it. Jaune struggled and raised his arms over his head as the fabric of the pavilion fell down on him. He was sent to his knees, the weight of the tent forcing him down and he struggled to move forward. He could hear the crash happening around him, the terrible screeching of metal tearing, the splintering noise of broken wood, the screams of people close by and the final cacophonous crash of the impact surrounded him. Steadying his breathing as he moved forward, trying to find a seam in the tent fabric, Jaune tried to orient himself. He hadn't been hit but he also didn't know who else was and whether or not the truck was carrying anyone or anything dangerous.

It took several seconds, which to Jaune, felt like an eternity, but he finally found a small opening in the fabric. Grabbing the sides, he began to tear at it, applying Aura to his arms to allow him to easily rip the thick fabric of the pavilion apart.

Slowly, he peeked his head out and thankfully saw that there were no armed and hostile people around him. The truck had carried on through the pavilion after it had hit it and smashed into the gates of the palace grounds. Thankfully it hadn't broken through and had careened off into a section of the outer wall instead. Most of the security were busy making sure that the VIPs who had been secured were as far away from the scene as possible and those that were left were trying to find survivors in the ruins of the pavilion.

Jaune tried to get a closer look at the truck, seeing that aside from its white colouration, it was largely blank and had no marks on it. He guessed that a vehicle that had advertised the logo of a known criminal organisation would have probably never gotten close to the square but it was just as bizarre to see no civilian cover on it either.

A door on the back of the truck suddenly swung open a second later and Jaune tensed. Several moments passed as nothing emerged from the vehicle. Security forces, now having secured most of the VIPs from the wrecked pavilion were slowly moving forward to surround the crashed truck but then a loud popping bang sounded off and a large canister shot out of the truck's back and flew high into the air.

'Get down!' Jaune ordered as he backed away.

The canister shout high into the air, reaching the centre of the square and then burst. Paper sheets flew out of it and rained down on the people who were still clustered in the area, terrified but unable to move. The air was filled with a palpable tension as people were unsure of what was going to happen. The fear quickly turned to confusion as the paper finally flew down onto the floor and lay before the people.

'Oh no,' Jaune said as he saw one of the papers flutter down in front of him. He grabbed it out of the air and took a closer look at the symbol on the paper that he had only caught a glimpse of before.

On the papers were a red wolf's head and nothing else. The design was simple but Jaune felt a shiver go down his spine as he realised what it was.

'Red Fang,' he whispered as he began to back away from the truck.

'Sir,' one of the security personnel called out as they approached him. 'Professor Arc,' the man then said finally getting his attention. 'We need to get you out of here right now sir. Please come wi...'

It was then that the truck exploded. A great wall of fire, preceded by a blast of air that send Jaune and everyone near him flying. He cried out in alarm as he careened through the air and the collided harshly with the ground. Jaune rolled as the blast for force continued to hit him, sending him tumbling along the ground. As he continued to tumble, Jaune could almost feel his body scrape along the ground in spite of his Aura. Debris hit him even as he was thrown further away from the epicentre, bouncing off his Aura but still followed by even more concrete fragments.

Jaune finally came to a halt, lying face down on the ground. He could still feel small fragments of concrete rain down on him but he propped himself up on his elbows, groaning with exertion. His Aura had negated the worst of the explosion and impact but he still felt dizzy from the blast.

Shaking his head to try to clear it, Jaune pulled himself into a sitting position and tried to look around, blinking a few times as he saw spots in his vision. The entire square was empty of standing humans with everyone present lying on the ground, many of them writhing as they clutched wounds or held ruptured ears. The world sounded strangely muted as the groans and cries of fear and pain barely registered. Jaune knew that, being so close to the explosion, his eardrums had taken some damage that his Aura was working to heal.

Most of the security around him had also been blown away. He saw several men in uniform that had sustained grievous or even lethal injuries from the debris, the impact of the explosion or severe burns. It was clear that not all of them had their Aura unlocked and had suffered for it.

Around them were dozens of other unmoving bodies, both from the truck's rampage and collision and the explosion afterwards. Scattered amongst the debris and the people, those who were unmoving and those who were struggling to move, were the sheets of paper with the Red Fang symbol on it. Across from them were the twisted remains of the thoroughly destroyed truck. All that was left was the base and frame of the former chassis. The cabin, cargo container and much of the frame's axles were warped and broken by the force of the explosion. Jaune could make out several parts of machinery that he assumed were parts of the bomb and was surprised by the sheer size of the fragments. The device had to have been alarmingly large to cause such a powerful explosion, cause so much damage and leave so many pieces behind.

As sirens sounded off in the distance and slowly approached the square and Jaune took in the hesitant attempts to try to reach the wounded still stuck on the square, he felt his heart sink. This attack was exactly what the city at large and the kingdom didn't need.

* * *

'Absolutely not!' Aurora shouted, causing Rapture and Greta to take a step back from the surprising ferocity of the dark-skinned girl's outburst. Peter stood by her side, frowning and nodding in agreement.

'Guys please...' Greta tried to begin only to be cut off.

'No!' Aurora snapped. 'I mean… I can't believe you two. You want us to stalk an upper year class because you think they'll lead us to some big Red Fang plot? Are you both insane?'

About ten minutes earlier, shortly after classes had finished for the day, Greta had asked both Aurora and Peter to meet up in the dorm with her to hear Rapture out. The two of them had been polite enough to let Rapture finish her proposal and explain her thoughts behind why the older team might know what was going on before deciding to angrily deny her. Now she and Rapture were facing Aurora's indignant glare and Peter's incensed glower.

'You want us to follow an older team who may or may not have connections to a major criminal case, Follow them until they or we find the Red Fang and then do… something to them?' Aurora said, slowly and venomously as she ticked off the different points on one hand. 'Do you two have any idea how absolutely asinine that sounds?'

"When she puts it like that it does sound bad," Greta admitted in her head, struggling to not grimace noticeably as Rapture tensed and squared her shoulders at her partner.

'I already told you I'm doing this,' Rapture said in a low even tone. She was frowning back at her teammates, visibly annoyed at their reactions. Greta was worried they would all start another outburst like last time.

'For all the gods' sakes do you even hear yourself Rapture?!' Aurora shouted. 'This is beyond idiotic. It's suicidal. You're telling us that you want to confront hardened criminal psychopaths, after tailing upper years who you yourself have said, seem suspicious. Is none of this registering as a bad idea to you?'

The two girls stared down one another as silence filled the room. Greta looked to her own partner to see he had now sat himself down on one of the beds in their room and was quietly watching the argument, the frown still fixed to his face.

"Come on Peter," Greta urged silently, giving the boy a pleading expression. "Say something. I don't want this dragging out."

'So I guess I can count you out then?' someone finally said, breaking the silence. Greta whipped her head around as she realised it was Rapture who had spoken.

Aurora looked dumbfounded at Rapture's reply. For a moment she stood, her mouth slightly ajar in shock until she collected herself and gave Rapture another glare. 'Yes!' the dark-skinned girl snapped. Greta could see that Aurora was just about to continue her tirade when suddenly Tom burst into the room.

'Guys, guys,' Tom said. 'You've got to see th...' whatever he was about to say trailed off as Rapture, Aurora and Peter all glared at him. Tom shrank back a little in fear and ignored Greta's attempt to give him a small wave and smile to break the tension.

'What?' Aurora said.

'Uh,' Tom stammered hesitantly. 'The, uh, the news.' He suddenly snapped back to his previous urgency. 'You guys have to see the news right now.'

'Tom,' Lach shouted from their dorm room, his voice carrying over easily. 'Are ya done over there? Ya need to get back and see this.'

'Right,' Tom said, mostly to himself as he looked back in the direction of his room. 'You guys should, uh, really put the news on. Like right now. Gotta go.'

He then ran off to several more shouted demands for his return coming from his entire team. Greta felt confused by what she had just seen from Team TEAL's leader and she could see the rest of GRAP felt the same one way or another.

'Oh,' she then said as she remembered Tom's rapidly blurted message. 'News.'

Everyone sat down on the beds with disgruntled resignation, annoyed that their argument had just been derailed. Greta, meanwhile, was plugging her scroll into the desk's projector port and brought up an interlink tab for the webpage of the Valesian News Corporation. In the middle of the page was a video link that said "live broadcast" on it in large lettering. Greta pressed the button icon on the video and stepped back until she was able to sit on one of the beds.

'… the casualties have yet to be announced,' the voice of a newsreader said as the image of an open square in the town appeared on the projector screen. 'Police and emergency services have secured Angela's Square and we are still seeing injured being taken out of the strike zone. We have yet to see an official release on who was responsible for this terrible event but the large amount of signed paper on site indicates that the Red Fang were the ones who perpetrated this attack.'

A tense atmosphere fell over the room as the reporter's words registered with the team. Everyone tensed physically, Rapture even recoiling physically from the images they were being shown. Greta looked at her teammates, shocked by what she had heard and saw all of them wearing worried expressions. Rapture, however, quickly turned her surprise into an angry glower.

'That's it,' Rapture suddenly said, getting up and pausing the video. 'I'm not hanging around anymore.'

'What?!' Aurora then said. 'What do you mean you're not hanging around?'

'I'm going down there,' Rapture replied, rounding on the group, 'whether you all like it or not.'

'Why?' Peter asked. 'What do you expect to find there? The attack's probably just happened, they're still taking casualties away for god's sakes.'

'I want to see this,' Rapture replied with a stoic look that slowly turned into a confident smirk. 'And there's a chance those people who were at the mall will be there as well.'

'Oh, that's a guess at best,' Aurora shot back. 'What makes you think they'll go there? Even if they do, what do you think your chances of catching them will be?'

'Better than if I stay here,' Rapture said. 'I said I'm going and that's what I'm doing. With or without you.'

With that she went over to her bed and picked her scroll off of it. She then gave the team one last look of frustrated determination, as if daring them to follow her. Greta felt Rapture almost pierce right through her with the glare that was sent her way. Once Rapture was done, she walked out of the dorm in the direction of the locker room.

Trepidation filled Greta as she struggled with her feelings on the matter. She had heard Rapture's feelings on the Red Fang, the attack and the entire affair they were all going through the other night and wanted to help her but another part didn't want to get involved with such a massive and dangerous investigation. She stood in place, wrestling with herself for several seconds before, finally, making a decision.

* * *

'Rapture wait,' Aurora heard her team leader call out. She stood there, mouth slight agape as she watched Greta run out of the door and after their other teammate.

Aurora was left almost speechless as she realised Greta wasn't going to try to dissuade Rapture. Her leader had been silently backing the faunus girl since the topic had been brought up even though Aurora had hoped she would see sense. Aurora turned to look at Peter, her own silent backer throughout the argument to see what he would now do. What she saw shocked her.

Peter was standing there, swaying slightly with indecision and with a conflicted expression on his face. The grimace he was making visibly reflected her own distaste but she could see he was looking at the door, which had still been left open, as if he was prepared to follow after the other girls. He then turned to her, his face turning almost resigned and apologetic. Finally, after several seconds of staring at one another, Peter gave Aurora a helpless shrug and swiftly walked out of the door and turned in the same direction that Greta and Rapture had gone.

Aurora stood where she was, stunned by what she had just seen. She couldn't believe what her teammates were doing and took several seconds to properly register the fact that they were all going to follow after Rapture. After waiting for another moment, she grimaced as she realised they were not going to stop.

'Fuck,' Aurora hissed as she went over to her wardrobe, grabbed a spare ammunition bag and stormed out after them.

* * *

The trip down to Vale was a tense and awkward affair and Greta spent the entire time in the Bullhead, sheepishly glancing to her teammates. Aurora had started the trip glowering at her and the others but had quickly abandoned in favour of a stoic frown as she stared out of the window and waited for the aircraft to land. Peter seemed to be indifferent despite appearing worried when they boarded. Rapture, by far, was the most agitated. She seemed to be silently urging the Bullhead to go faster and land sooner than it was expected to and was glancing around the cabin they were in before turning to the windows to check how close they were to the landing zone.

When the ship landed, they all hurriedly walked through the airfield and entered the city before grabbing seats on one of the buses and waiting to get close to the site of the attack. When they finally reached the end of the line, where police boundaries had rerouted the buses, they had disembarked and walked the rest of the way.

By the time they had reached the square in front of the royal palace, they found the entire area cordoned off by police tape. News teams were crowded around the edge of the scene, clamouring for a better view of the site as police officers and Knight droids in police colours politely held them at bay. Greta slowed for a moment, stalling in the face of such a large and well equipped police presence but saw Rapture continued to stride forward, carefully pushing her way through the crowds. Peter and Aurora looked at her and waited to see if they were going to follow after the faunus girl.

Greta sighed, nodded an affirmative and then began to shoulder her way past the reporters as well. As she got closer she began to hear Rapture's voice over the protests of the reporters and it appeared Rapture was arguing with the police.

'But I'm a trainee Huntress,' Rapture said in a frustrated tone, digging into her pockets. 'Here's my Beacon student ID.'

'Sorry kid but this is a high profile case,' the beleaguered and tired looking officer said as he glanced at Rapture's ID on her scroll. 'No unauthorised personnel beyond this point and that includes Beacon students now please step away from the line.'

Rapture took a step back as several of the droids, their arms spread wide, leaned forward. It seemed the entire police line was edging up against the undulating wall of people and the journalists were all reacting with an expected amount of indignation. The noise of the complainants redoubled in volume and strength as people called out the police's methods and Greta struggled not to clutch her ears in annoyance.

'Come on Rapture,' she said, trying to shout over the noise as she grabbed the faunus girl's shoulder. 'We can't stay here.'

'Like hell we can't,' Rapture shouted back, visibly unsettled by the clamour around them. 'I want to see what's going on.'

'Fine,' Greta said, just loud enough to be heard, 'but we're only getting one look around, then we're leaving.'

Rapture scowled at the order but nodded, giving her assent and together the team left. Aurora and Peter hadn't said anything but gave their own sceptical looks when Greta shouted their plans over the crowd of angry news crews. The two of them looked frustrated and tired with the situation but quickly fell into line along with Rapture.

There was no way to enter the square so the best the team could achieve was walking from one street to the other and find the avenue's into the square were blocked off by police blockades. Finally, after they had reached the last thoroughfare, Greta was close to giving up. Rapture had walked up to the line, stopping just short of the droids guarding the perimeter and begun to peer into the crime scene.

'Okay, Rapture,' Greta began, seeing that there was no way they were going to make progress. 'We're done here. There's nothing we ca...'

'Wait,' Rapture said quickly. She then began to sniff the air in front of her before wrinkling her nose.

'Smelling the air for clues in a city?' Aurora mumbled in a condescending tone before shaking her head. 'Come on, Rapture,' she then said in a louder tone, 'there's no way we're getting in and there's nothing to see here that we can't see on the news.'

'I said wait,' Rapture snapped. She still had her head raised high but she wasn't smelling the air now. Instead she was craning her neck to see as far as she could over the square.

'This is a waste of time,' Aurora hissed as she straightened her stance and crossed her arms in front of her. The dark-skinned girl had looked irritable since they had landed and now she was getting noticeably angry.

Greta was getting seriously worried now. Aurora was close to snapping at Rapture and Peter's frown looked less like his genuine emotion and more like a carefully controlled expression. Greta herself was feeling nothing but doubt about the outing now and it was clear that it was just making Rapture more frustrated as she struggled to find whatever she was expecting to see.

'Wait,' Rapture suddenly shouted, gleeful expectation in her voice. 'I see them. It's that team from before.'

'What?!' Greta exclaimed, running to the police line and joining her teammate. She saw Aurora and Peter join her at her side, surprise on their own faces though they still managed to look sceptical at the same time.

Greta looked around and then spotted the very thing she had not expected to see. The four students that had fought Professor Smith a week ago were walking onto the scene. They were not only within the police barricade without drawing any negative attention from the police but many of the authorities were actively deferring to them. Even if the noise of the spectators around her and the surrounding city weren't present, she wouldn't be able to hear what they were saying but the lead girl's face displayed the sort of professionalism she saw in classrooms. They were either there for business or information and they clearly thought they were supposed to be at the site.

'We caught them,' Rapture muttered to herself, her tone indecipherable as she seemed to mix several different emotions into it.

'Okay,' Peter said, finally speaking for the first time since they had set out. 'So we found them and they're in a crime scene that we can't access. What do we do now?'

'There's nothing we can do,' Aurora said after a heavy sigh of frustration. 'It's a miracle that we actually managed to make it here in time to see them do anything.'

'I...' Greta began, wanting to say something but she wasn't sure what. This hadn't been her idea but it now seemed like it was her turn to make decisions again. 'I… I, I don't know,' she finally admitted. 'I don't know what we can do.'

'We know they're involved,' Rapture suddenly cut in. 'We could find out who they are.'

'What?!' Aurora snapped. 'Are you… are you serious?'

'Yes,' Rapture replied obstinately.

'I… I ca...' Aurora stammered as a look of complete and utter disbelief appeared on her face. 'I don't believe you. Why are you so obsessed with this?'

Greta winced as the dark-skinned girl shouted her last sentence drawing the attention of several people around them. A glance at Peter saw that he had noticed as well and looked ready to intervene.

'Guys, guys,' Greta said, getting her head between the two and looking back and forth between them until she had their attention. 'We shouldn't be doing this here.'

'We shouldn't be doing this at all,' Aurora said. 'I cannot comprehend why you are so insistent on investigating these people. What do you possibly think you get out of this.'

'I said stop it!' Greta finally shouted. The entire group looked at her, somewhat surprised that she had shouted at them like that.

'Um, we're going now,' she said, trying to sound firm and authoritative. 'We're not getting anywhere and I don't want us fighting in the street. We're done here now and we're leaving.'

Aurora looked annoyed at first but quickly slipped into a mask of haughty superiority that Greta rarely saw her put on these days. Peter looked relieved though he too adopted an indifferent expression as he began to walk back down the street, away from the police line and the square. Aurora followed after him, her pace as measured and graceful as his. Greta sighed as she realised they had slipped into some kind of "rich kid" exterior persona, something they did when they were trying to keep themselves under control.

Greta looked back to see that Rapture was still lingering on the edge, a sour frown on her face. She kept casting glances back into the square, as if she was looking for something that could call the others back and change Greta's mind.

'Come on Rapture,' Greta sighed, giving up on her previously authoritarian tone. 'We're leaving. You can talk about this back at the dorm.'

Rapture reluctantly turned away from the square and followed after the others. Greta found herself lingering from a moment as she too risked a glance back at the bombing site and where she assumed the suspicious upper year team were investigating the attack. She felt confused and lost as she tried to get a grip on her thoughts and straighten them out again. Sighing, Greta turned back and followed after her team, fully aware that whilst she had put off the argument that was brewing, it would quickly return once they got back to Beacon.

* * *

Rapture's blood had been boiling on the way back to Beacon but by the time their Bullhead had landed back on the school's airdocks it had settled down into a strange simmer that made her feel unsettled with herself. The fire that had driven her when she stormed out of their room earlier in the day wasn't put out but it had been doused into an ashen mess of embers.

As they were about to reach their dorm she had told the rest of the team that she needed to go to the bathroom and had walked off. She had quickly left the dorms and tried to find somewhere else to nurse her disappointment and the strange sense of frustration and hurt that was similar to the sensations she had felt weeks ago when the team had their last falling out.

Now she sat in a corner of the library, her scroll in her hands and a lead plugging it into a socket in the wall to let it charge. She was idly flicking through news on the attack, skimming over the articles and then moving on to others that had been written about the police's war in the megacity's north-east. She wasn't really paying attention to the screen in front of her and lazily moved the digital pages she was reading aside to bring new ones up just to keep herself busy.

Rapture sighed and rubbed her eyes as she tried to get her mind straight but found she couldn't keep her attention on any one thing. Part of her was angry at once again being shot down by Greta, especially after she thought the other girl was on her side. Aurora had also fought against her every step of the way and Rapture wasn't sure if her partner finally deciding to follow after her had actually helped her.

The trip down to the bomb site had gotten her what she had wanted, she had found the team were involved in the Red Fang investigation but now she had no idea what else to do. Rapture put her scroll down as she realised that Aurora and the others had been right. What had she expected to do when she found the upper years? Would she confront them? Ask to join in on the investigation? Follow after them if they went out after the Red Fang? Rapture couldn't find an answer and she started to feel increasingly frustrated as that fact dawned on her.

'There you are,' a familiar but weary voice said. Rapture looked up to see Aurora standing in front of her, a frown on her face and her hands on her hips. 'We've all been looking for you.'

'Really,' Rapture sighed out, her mood turning melancholy. "I guess she's here to gloat, or maybe get me to apologise. I can't blame her. She was right."

'Yes,' Aurora replied. There was an uncomfortable pause as both girls sized one another up and see what they would do. It was then that Aurora did something that surprised Rapture, she sighed and dropped the frown.

'Do you mind being honest with me?' Aurora asked as she went over, pulled a chair away from one the nearby tables and put it in front of Rapture.

'What do you mean?' Rapture said in response as she watched her partner take a seat.

'I want you to talk to me,' Aurora began, her frown disappearing and turning into an awkward expression, 'and its rather difficult to say.' She put a hand to her forehead and sighed through her nose as she shut her eyes and seemed to be thinking deeply before finally fixing her with a deep stare. 'Why do you want to go after the Red Fang?'

Rapture grimaced for a moment as she thought over Aurora's question and then, after a lengthy pause, she told Aurora about her feelings. She repeated everything that she had said to Greta in the night before, talking about her parents, her thoughts on the ghetto she was raised in and the feelings that the attack they had survived had stirred in her. She kept her voice level, feeling strangely numb to what she was saying to her partner.

'So that's why you want to hunt down a terrorist organisation and drag us into it?' Aurora asked, a sour expression on her face that spoke of dissatisfaction.

'I, uh, well… no,' Rapture stuttered out. She hadn't expected a wellspring of sympathy or apologies but Aurora's deadpan tone, look and question had broken Rapture's stride. She had felt somewhat disconnected when she admitted her feelings this time round but was still stumped by the response she got from her partner.

'Good,' Aurora replied, 'because I want you to be honest with me.'

'Wait?' Rapture asked indignantly. 'What's that supposed to mean?'

'It means that you're hiding something from us still,' Aurora said in response. 'You've been rather obsessive about this and it doesn't take a detective to realise that the odd mood you've been in all week is because of this. The thing that doesn't make sense is that this isn't like you. I may have only known you for a couple of months at best but I think I've spent enough time with you to know that race isn't exactly an issue you will go this far for. What happened to faunus not being "your people" after all?'

'Oh don't bring that up,' Rapture hissed. 'You're right, I don't try to care about my people like that but the mall was different and so is this. People died in front of us and they're responsible for it.'

'Did you know I had a run in with the Red Fang before,' Aurora suddenly said, completely calm and nonplussed. Rapture was stunned and reeled back a little as she tried to process what her partner had just told her.

'Wait, what?' she snapped.

'I was attacked by the Red Fang,' Aurora replied. Rapture gave her a completely shocked expression that Aurora took as a signal to continue talking. 'Before I came to Beacon, shortly after I had submitted my application forms I went to one of the outer wall construction sites. My father was doing another inspection of the area, the defence contract is one of his pet projects after all.' Aurora's expression turned somewhat distant and a sad frown appeared on her face.

'I went with my father because I had nothing better to do,' Aurora explained. 'Father, on the other hand, was more than happy to show me more of how the family company worked. He took me around the site, introduced me to some of the workers as he discussed business details and demonstrated some procedures. At one point, however, he had to conduct a private meeting on-site and I was left alone.'

'It's childish I know but I got rather bored and wandered off,' Aurora then said, looking slightly embarrassed as she admitted her actions. 'I think I had walked for about five minutes before a dozen faunus workers jumped at me. The only reason I didn't get caught immediately because one of them knocked over a pile of cabling. I, thankfully, had Dark Majesty on me and was able to fight them off but they got too close for me to be comfortable and at one point I was actually grabbed and beaten a few times before I could kick free and finish them all off.'

Rapture was still surprised, remaining quiet and waiting for her partner to finish. 'The police came shortly after I'd beaten them and got my father's attention and the report said they were Red Fang imitators or copycats who wanted to join the actual organisation. They had the masks and equipment on them and apparently they had been planning to bomb the work site but had decided to change plans and try to hold me for ransom after they saw me arrive.' She then looked Rapture in the eyes, her distant look now gone.

'The point I want to make here is that I've encountered the Red Fang before and, not to sound insensitive, but I think I have a more personal reason to dislike them.' Aurora straightened her poise again. 'Despite that I never felt a need to hunt them down myself. I want to know why you want to find the Red Fang so much and I want the truth.'

Rapture felt conflicted by what Aurora had just said to her. She was finally registering Aurora's story and was shocked about what the girl had to endure. Another part of her though was insulted by Aurora's insistence that she wasn't being sincere. She groaned in frustration and rubbed her face again as she tried to work herself up and find the reason why she was so upset again.

'You really want to know?' Rapture finally said, receiving a nod from Aurora in response. 'I told you about my parents. Its because of them. They did so much to get me into Beacon, they worked so hard and gave up so much for me and all I want to do is repay that. I want to get them out of that district and into somewhere safer, somewhere they actually deserve to live. What do you think the chances of them being allowed to move into a better district, one more likely to be inhabited by humans, would be if the Red Fang go on such a big rampage?'

'I can imagine,' Aurora replied in an even tone.

'Yeah,' Rapture said. 'If you want one of the reasons why I want to deal with them, its because of that. A lot of faunus would probably call me selfish but all I want is to get my parents into a better part of the city and I'm not going to let them get in the way.'

'So you're taking on a terrorist organisation because of your parents?' Aurora asked, her question managing not to sound flippant. She seemed to be looking for actual clarification, as if she was thinking over the answer.

'Yeah,' Rapture replied, simply.

Aurora sighed, and put her head in her hands for several seconds. 'Alright,' she finally said, straightening again. 'I can understand that. I don't think it's a good reason but I can see why this whole thing is so important to you. I won't stop you,' it was then that she put up one of her hands and fixed Rapture with a commanding look, 'I'm not letting you do anything really stupid. By this point it's clear that you will be doing things I consider stupid and I accept that now but don't expect me to back you up if you make a truly bad decision.'

Rapture chuckled a little as she saw how serious her partner was about her proclamation. A smirk appeared on her lips as she muffled the sniggers and put a hand to her forehead.

'I can live with that,' Rapture said, still smirking. 'Don't think I'm stopping though.'

'Oh I'm quite aware you won't,' Aurora said. 'Let's just try to be careful.'

* * *

Peter felt exhausted after the day he had experienced. Though he had tried to not get involved with the drama and remain on the sidelines of the conflict it had been distressing just to watch and wait for the whole thing to boil over. The trip to the bombing site had been rather stressful, as had the trip back and Rapture's subsequent disappearance after they had gotten back to the dorms. One hour of searching for her later and he had given up and returned to his dorm room to wait for Rapture to come back. He knew she would, she had before and their current argument wasn't as bad as the ones that had led to her trying to abandon the team for a weekend.

Greta had returned shortly after he had finally gotten settled. She had shot him a slightly annoyed look but had then shrugged and settled down as well. There had been a somewhat tense silence that followed after that, neither of them willing to talk and so Peter had decided to just sit back and try to busy himself. He had taken out his scroll and was currently working out plans for further upgrades to Symphonic Edge when the other two members of their team entered together.

'You're back,' Greta said to them.

'Yeah,' Aurora replied. 'I found her in the library and we had a talk.'

'Really?' Greta then asked. 'You two alright?'

'We worked things out,' Rapture said before Aurora could continue. 'We're good.'

'You're… good?' Greta asked carefully, looking sceptical.

'Yeah,' Rapture clarified. 'I really am. Don't worry.'

'Well that's, great,' Greta said. Peter wasn't sure what to say this time. He was surprised about how quickly the whole thing had been dealt with.

'Well that's good to hear,' Peter finally said before mentally slapping himself. "Good gods above that is probably the most pathetic thing I could have said."

'Don't get comfortable yet,' Rapture said, turning to look at him. 'I'm not done with this, um, I guess, investigation. I still want to find out what's going on.'

Peter nervously glanced at Greta who shot him a similar look as what their teammate had said was processed. He then looked at Aurora to find she wore a weary but surprisingly accepting expression. It didn't take long for him to realise that Rapture's partner was, at the very least, allowing the madness to continue.

"Why?" Peter lamented quietly as he tried to keep his face neutral. "Why, gods?"

Fixing a concerned look back onto his face, he tried to hide the growing frustration with the whole affair from the others. 'Alright,' he then said, 'but what do you actually plan to do about this? I mean we had one lead and all it brought us was a wasted Bullhead trip into Vale.'

'Well,' Rapture replied, sounding far too calm for whatever she was thinking to be spontaneous. 'I never ruled out tracking them when they leave Beacon. We know they're going here after all.'

'You're going to stalk them while they're at school with us?' Peter asked, hoping he could dissuade the girl from her plan by pointing out how ridiculously stupid it sounded.

'No,' Rapture replied, somewhat indignant, 'but I'm still going to investigate them.'

"We're really doing this aren't we?' Peter lamented, still keeping control over himself. He shot Greta a concerned look but found she only a slightly troubled look on her face as she seemed to mull over what the other girls had said.

'You're seriously considering this aren't you?' a voice suddenly asked. Peter sat in place for a second, confused why the girls were all looking at him after that was said. He quickly realised he was the one who spoken and focused on Greta who was now staring at him with a questioning gaze.

'Well, aren't you?' Peter quickly said, deciding to follow through on his accident.

He felt a wave of relief wash over him as he now knew that the focus had been moved onto Greta who floundered visibly under the team's scrutiny. Her expression quickly shifted from curious to shocked, then nervous and back to thoughtful in a matter of seconds as she tried to think of a way to deal with the situation.

'I, uh,' Greta stammered as she tried to think of what to say. 'Um… uh,' finally, she sighed and her head drooped. 'Ju… just do what you want. You said you would.'

Peter was stunned. He hadn't expected Greta, after the pointless wild goose chase and the worry they had felt in the past week, to actually give in and let Rapture keep doing what she wanted.

"She's really doing this," he thought, still struggling to believe what he was hearing.

'Will you have my back when I do?' Rapture asked, a hint of hesitance and nervousness in her own voice now.

'Um...' Greta tried to speak. 'Uh, sure, fine. But not for anything really dangerous.'

"Oh gods," Peter thought as fought to keep from reacting too harshly. "She's really doing this."

'Great,' Rapture said, smiling a little as she and Aurora took a seat. 'Don't worry, though. I'm not going to take this too far.'

Peter groaned quietly as he lay back down on his bed, trying to make the motion look smooth and somewhat casual. Inside he was broiling mess of panicked emotions as he processed what had just happened. Rapture was going to "investigate" a team of upper years who had connections to a massive police war against one of the most dangerous terrorist organisations in Vale and now, she had Greta and Aurora's backing.

Peter was alone in his own genuine opposition now and he knew his own inactivity was at fault. By relying on Aurora to lead the charge he had ceded any actual control over the issue. Sighing heavily, he knew that things were going to get so, so much worse in the coming weeks.


	6. Chapter Six: Suspicions Part Four

**Chapter** **Six** **:** **Suspicions Part** **Four** **:**

 **November** **3** **rd** **1462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

To commemorate the attack on Angela's Square, the entire week had been declared a period of mourning for all of Vale. The usual festivities had been cancelled though some people still tried to hold their own events and dedicate them to the fallen. Many others had taken to the streets to demonstrate before the government and demand that they escalate the police war against the Red Fang, get revenge or just make some show of force and put the fear of the gods in the perpetrators. Few faunus dared walk the streets in public or primarily human areas, terrified of backlashes from angry human civilians whilst the few organised pro-faunus organisations were trying to curb the violent and non-violent attacks on the faunus. Shops had been shut, non-essential services were working with skeleton crews at best and, most importantly for Team GRAP, lessons had been cancelled.

Normally Fridays were a period of anticipation for Greta. They weren't as bad as Wednesdays where she knew there was still half a week of waiting to go but the childish urge to get lessons over with and just relax in preparation for Saturday was still strong in her. This Friday, however, whilst still filled with anticipation and no small amount of stress, was very different from what she was used to.

'So you're definitely sure they're back?' Peter asked Rapture with a small frown on his face.

'Yeah,' the faunus girl replied. 'I saw them coming in on one of the Bullheads. Looks like they were out yesterday as well.'

The entire team were in their room, waiting on their plan of action. Greta knew that something was going to happen and – going by Rapture's continued insistence on the matter of their impromptu investigation – it would probably be sooner rather than later. Though Aurora had been somewhat stoic for the past day since she and Rapture had reconciled Peter had been strangely sullen. The only male member of the team hadn't acted that much differently since Wednesday but Greta could feel something off about him.

'So if they're all back,' Aurora began, joining the conversation from her seat at one of the desks, 'what do we do now?'

'We wait and see what they do,' Greta said, cutting in before Rapture could open her mouth.

'Yeah,' Rapture agreed. 'If they do leave the academy as a group though, we go after them.'

'Let's at least try to be inconspicuous if we have to resort to that though,' Aurora said with a somewhat nervous frown.

'Alright,' Greta said, trying to finish the conversation quickly. 'Peter,' she then added, turning to her partner, 'how did the look through the student records go.'

'It had the usual entries,' Peter said, his tone level. The previous day he had been sent to the CCT to see if he could identify them and dig anything up. It had been a long shot at best and Peter had spent hours trawling through the registry, trying to identify them by their pictures. He had, at least, found who they were and made a note of their names and what their teams were called.

'They're called Teams GOLD and SWRZ and they're apparently exchange students from Atlas,' Peter continued. 'They applied for attendance with the current freshman year but they're all third years now.'

'Yeah, that's definitely not suspicious,' Rapture drawled sarcastically. 'Why on Remnant would Atlesians who've been in their nation's academy for two years suddenly switch to Beacon?'

'Yes, I will admit that seems very abnormal,' Aurora added.

'How about the blonde?' Rapture then asked, turning to Peter.

'Her name's Olivia Van Rot,' Peter listed off as he picked up his scroll, bringing up a page that was presumably the notes he had made. 'Age 19, member of Team GOLD and that's really the only thing I could get from the records.'

'Alright,' Rapture then began, addressing the entire room. 'So we've got two Atlas teams who suddenly came over here after spending two years in Atlas Academy, they have full access to crime scenes and can make full demands of the police.'

'I think Team SWRZ were the four we saw at Angela's Square,' Peter then added.

'So both teams definitely have access,' Aurora stated.

'Uh, guys,' Greta asked, getting everyone's attention. 'If we now, definitely, know they're on the side of the police then why are we suspicious of them?'

'Well, uh, they know where the Red Fang are,' Rapture replied, suddenly looking a little less sure of herself. 'If we follow them we find the Fang.'

'Fine,' Greta agreed, nodding slowly.

'So, if they do leave again for, well, anything,' Peter began, his slightly sceptical frown still there, 'how are we supposed to follow them? They're third year students, they've got two years of training and experience on us.'

'We'll deal with that when we get to it,' Greta said. 'First we have to wait for them to actually do something.'

* * *

The wait took longer than Greta had expected but in that time she and her team had made some progress of their own in the investigation. One of the things they had decided they needed was information on where exactly the two teams were staying. Aurora had managed to catch them going into the third year dorms on Saturday and had used her semblance to lift herself up the outer wall until she had found the rooms they were staying in. Of course, she had insisted that she would never do something like that in normal circumstances and claimed she felt scandalized about the whole thing. At the same time, however, she happily accepted Rapture's thanks and praise when it was given to her.

Despite this extra bit of information on their current targets, Greta still wasn't sure what exactly they could do with it. They already knew where the third year dorms were and therefore where the two teams would logically be staying. They had all agreed that they wouldn't be staking out the dorms properly but would keep an eye on them and the routes between them and the airdocks as much as they reasonably could.

Now it was Sunday and everyone was sitting in their room. Greta had been procrastinating on homework assignments that had been given just before Sanctonoct, especially after they had been given several more days off. Now she was trying hard to catch up, Peter having cruelly refused to give her a hand after finishing his own. Her partner was currently lying back on his bed, his headphones on and digitally linked to his scroll as he glanced over the plans for his weapons that he had been making. Aurora and Rapture were both sitting on their beds as well, Aurora reading one of her books whilst Rapture flicked through the interlink on her scroll. The faunus girl had been the most agitated of the group since they had decided to continue their attempts to look into the Red Fang.

'Uh,' Greta groaned as she finished off the last question in her assignment, pushed the book and pen she had been writing with aside and threw her head down onto the desk. The entire room was startled by the aggressive knock of her skull hitting the wood and there was a short period of quiet before another, more pained groan, emerged from Greta.

'Bad idea?' Peter asked in a slightly sympathetic tone, his lip a careful, straight line on his face.

'Yeah,' Greta said simply, groaning again.

'So have you finished your work or are you giving up again?' Aurora inquired, still reading her book without even glancing in Greta's direction.

'Finished,' Greta replied, lifting her head back up and rubbing at her forehead and wincing slightly. 'Finally.'

'Great,' Peter said with a smile. 'So is that everything?'

'Yep,' Greta grunted, arching her back, stretching her arms over her head and splaying her fingers as she worked out the stiff feelings in her body. 'Last assignments for history, math, linguistics and applied Dust studies are now done.'

'Well we've yet to receive the work from the sciences, Grimm studies or geography,' Peter pointed out with a playful smirk. 'Don't get too comfortable.'

'Oh, gods above,' Greta groaned as she thought about the amount of homework that still lay before her. If it was anything like what she had just completed she was in for a horrible time.

'Just be glad PE, combat and survival skills don't give out written work,' Peter continued, sitting up and taking his headphones off.

'You know,' Aurora began, still reading, 'it would be a lot easier for you if you didn't just leave it for so long and let it build up.'

'Thanks, Aurora,' Greta replied, giving her teammate a withering look. 'Right, so, what's our lesson plan for the week.'

She reached out for her scroll, switched it on and brought up the curriculum plan. By this point most of the timetable had been dissolved for the sake of the Vytal Festival's preparations. There were few formal lessons now with a heavy focus on combat training and a reminder to utilise the new free periods appropriately and responsibly.

'Well,' Rapture said, startling Greta as the team-leader realised that her teammate had suddenly walked up behind her and was now peering over her shoulder, 'at least we'll have more time for the investigation.'

'They haven't done anything since they got back,' Peter pointed out.

'Nothing that we've been able to see them do,' Rapture countered. She then straightened herself and went over to the window, propping herself up with her elbows on the windowsill and sighing. 'This is going too slowly.'

'Well we've done something since Wednesday,' Greta said, trying to keep everything settled.

'Yeah,' Rapture drawled sarcastically. 'We've found out things anyone else here can. The teachers know more about those eight than we do. We need to find something… real about them, that we can use.'

'Why don't we just forget them and wander into the war zone,' Peter mumbled bitterly, barely speaking loud enough for Greta to overhear him.

'What was that,' Aurora asked before anyone else could.

'Oh, nothing,' Peter said in a much more passive voice.

'Yeah, well...' Rapture suddenly cut off as she looked out of the window. She had been idly looking halfway out of their room for the last few minutes but now her full attention was on whatever she had seen outside. 'It's them. They're moving.'

'What?' Greta almost shouted. She ran over to the window to take a look. She then immediately grunted as she felt one of her teammates hit her from behind as they crowded over to the windowsill with her.

The entire team was now peering out of the window, Peter and Aurora perched on top of Rapture and Greta as they all tried to find the Atlesian third years they had been trying to catch doing something for days.

'There,' Rapture said, pointing down into the courtyard that lay between the various dorm buildings.

Following her teammate's finger, Greta finally found the two teams. Both groups were walking together, several of them animatedly chatting with one another and they were all dressed in their colourful armour. Greta could see weapons strapped to their sides or backs and the few who weren't casually chatting looked like they were somewhat self-aware of themselves.

'Where do you think they're going?' Greta asked, shifting slightly and seeing Peter's arm move down to prop itself up on the windowsill at the same time that a weight on her shoulder's moved off of her back.

"That explains who's been on my back," Greta thought bitterly as she moved further to give her partner more room.

'Why don't we follow them to find out?' Rapture asked with unsettling sincerity. Greta looked to see the faunus girl had a serious expression set on her face and was subtly looking at the rest of the team to gauge their responses.

'You do know that if they are going somewhere important that we won't be able to follow,' Peter countered, drawing a frown from Rapture.

'True,' Aurora agreed. 'But if that's the case we can at least see where they went and how far we can make it.'

'Yeah,' Rapture continued, smiling at her partner's words. 'We should go and see what they're doing.'

'Greta?' Peter said, turning to her and giving her an expectant look that asked the unspoken question of what their next movement would be.

Greta looked around the room, her stomach clenching as she realised that, this time, the team's decision rested entirely on her. Everyone looked expectant, Rapture almost ready to leap, her body tense as she awaited whatever command was given to her. Aurora and Peter, by contrast were somewhat sullen though their posture was still as straight as usual. Peter, however, looked the most casual, as if he was expecting her to tell him to stay put.

Greta bit her bottom lip, drawing worried looks from everyone though Greta knew their concerns were all different. It was when she threw one last glance at Rapture, remembering everything the faunus girl had said to her and what she had promised in turn.

'We're going after them,' Greta said with a tone of finality, trying to look confident in her decision but still slouching despite her best efforts.

The entire atmosphere in the room shifted as the entire team began to move. Rapture, who had looked like she was going to jump in a direction depending on what she heard, almost leapt in the direction of the door. Aurora, looking rather stoic, went over to her wardrobe and pulled out an extra ammunition bag, sling it over her shoulder and going to join her partner who was now waiting by the door.

Peter, however, was moving the most slowly. With a deliberate precision he pushed away from the window, went over to his wardrobe and pulled out one of the identical silver overcoats he wore over his Huntsman outfit. He then casually walked over to the others, a small frown on his face as he did so. Greta was a little concerned as she watched her partner. He had still seemed rather hesitant about the investigation and still looked mildly upset despite his calmness.

'We'll need to move quickly,' Peter said as he turned to give her a look that was urging her to move faster.

'Right,' Greta said, getting up and joining her team as they walked out of the door.

They all strode out of the dorms and over to the lock room, quickly grabbing their weapons and supplies and heading for the airdocks. Throughout the whole journey Greta wondered what they would do if the other teams left before they could find them again.

"They had a huge headstart on us," she thought. "What are the chances of us actually seeing where they leave and catching up to them?"

The group did their best not to run as they headed towards the airdocks though Greta was sure that they were all failing at looking nonchalant. Greta panicked as they finally arrived at the docks. She had just realised that it wasn't normal for a freshman team to be fully armed when heading off of campus on a weekend. They probably weren't going to be questioned by the bullhead pilots but people were going to notice and probably start asking what exactly they were doing on a Sunday with all their equipment.

'Any sign of them?' Greta asked as she looked around the airdock. She received either thoughtful silence or denials from her team as they also glanced around.

'There they are,' Peter suddenly pointed out. Greta looked in the direction he had given her and saw the faint sign of their colourful armour on a bullhead that was pulling out of the dock.

'Great,' Greta sighed, rubbing at her face with her right hand in frustration. 'Should we go after them?'

'We can still catch them if we take one of the bullheads,' Rapture said. 'They all go to the same airdock.'

'Fine,' Greta said, drawing curious gazes from Peter and Aurora. 'We'll get the first one we can find.'

They managed to find a bullhead that wasn't already being boarded by other students and told it to take them down into Vale. Throughout the trip, Greta wondered what they would do after they landed. They had no plan other than to follow the other teams and no idea where their covert chase might lead them.

'That's assuming we even catch them at the airdock,' Greta muttered to herself. She looked around the cabin to see if she had been overheard and saw that no-one was reacting to her. They were all, however, very agitated with Rapture even glancing out of the open side-door to see how close they were to the city.

The moment the bullhead finally landed in the airdock that serviced eastern Vale, Team GRAP piled out. They all looked haggard despite spending all of their time sitting down and every one of them looked about to try and find Teams GOLD and SWRZ. The airdock, unfortunately, was crowded and even the bright armour of their targets would have easily blended in with the other passengers and staff.

Worried, they all wandered through the airdock, heading for the main entrance, hoping to either catch them shortly after they left or find them before they leave. As the group hurried out of the doors, they found that they still weren't able to find the other teams in the crowds.

'We're not staying here all day are we?' Peter asked, now frowning deeply, his brow furrowed.

'No,' Greta agreed. She then sighed, realising that the entire mission was poorly thought out. 'This was a bad idea from the beginning.'

'Wait,' Rapture suddenly called out. She then pointed into the distance down the street. 'That's them.'

Following Rapture's hand, they once again spotted the octet of brightly armoured Huntsmen and Huntresses. They were too far away to make out properly but their outfits were distinct enough to notice and recognise. Greta felt conflicted, grimacing slightly as she tried to think about what to do now. She had almost made up her mind to give up and return to Beacon but now she knew that at least half of her team was going to force the issue.

'We still going then?' Rapture asked, turning to Greta.

'Yeah,' Greta replied. 'But we're not getting too close to them.'

"I've seen spy movies," she thought as they all slowed to a more casual pace and followed after the older students. "If we get too close or act too obvious they'll see us and do something to take care of us."

* * *

Team GRAP's self-imposed mission to follow Teams GOLD and SWRZ had lasted for hours as they followed the older students across the city. Several times they had risked losing their quarry as the Atlesians travelled on public transport, slowly making their way north across the eastern sector of the Vale megacity, closer and closer to the increasingly dilapidated districts of northern Vale.

Now they stood on the edge of the infamous Old Residential District of northern Vale, every one of them hesitant. Their targets had already gone inside but the moment Team GRAP had realised where they were they had all frozen up. Though the streets behind them were almost as run down, the decay of the infrastructure having been a gradual transition into the crumbling almost-ruin that now lay before them, they felt unsettled by the sight of the collapsing buildings in front of them. On either side of the street were thin silver poles with the symbol of the Vale Metropolitan Police printed on them. Everyone knew that it was an invisible cordon line, a device used by the police to warn them of when intruders stepped into a quarantined zone.

The cordon wasn't what was stopping them though now, what it represented was instead. The cordon was a boundary that delineated the warzone that the district had become in the past month and beyond it lay crime, conflict and the very real threat of death.

'So what do we do now?' Rapture asked, getting everyone's attention. Like the rest of the team, the faunus girl was just as unsure as the others, her trepidation clear on her face.

'We're not going in there,' Peter answered before Greta could say anything else. He saw everyone look at him and shot them an incredulous look of disgust. 'We're not going in there,' he repeated, pointing down the street. 'This a police controlled warzone, there's a war going in there.'

'But we've just spent hours tailing those guys,' Rapture countered, looking unsure of herself even as she protested. 'There's no point wasting all that time.'

'It's. A. Warzone!' Peter snapped back, enunciating each word slowly. He had a harsh snarl to his tone that Greta had never heard before.

'True,' Aurora agreed. 'But the majority of criminals in the district don't have their Aura activated. It may not be as dangerous for us.' She suddenly noticed the surprised look she was receiving from Rapture as well as the glare Peter was now sending her.

'It's only a hypothetical,' she clarified, putting a hand up in a placating gesture.

"Oh, great," Greta despaired silently. "This is so fucked up… and I'm the one who has to do something about it now."

'Alright, guys,' she said, trying to get their attention before they started another argument. They all turned to her, some form of expectation evident in their eyes.

'Um… uh,' Greta struggled as her mind went blank. 'We should… um.'

'Greta,' Peter suddenly started. 'This is a bad idea, no, this is beyond bad. We shouldn't be here.'

'But we're already here,' Rapture countered. 'What's the point of getting this far just to go back to the dorms.'

'The point,' Peter said, looking increasingly angry, 'is that this is now getting very illegal. We can't cross over into a police quarantine.'

'What they don't know won't necessarily hurt them,' Aurora muttered, looking aside but speaking just loud enough for the others to hear.

'Aurora!' Peter snapped. 'What is wrong with you? Why would you even say that?'

'Listen,' Aurora said. 'I don't like being here either,' she then paused for a second before fixing the team with a determined look, 'but I don't like giving up either and we've spent days on this investigation and weeks agonising over the Red Fang. I just want to make some kind of progress on this if we're incapable of forgetting about it.'

'Why don't we go back to the dorms and just forget it then?' Peter seethed. 'We've wasted enough time on this.'

'Guys, just stop!' Greta shouted. Whilst the others did go silent, Greta quickly realised she had their attention firmly on her again.

'Alright then' Peter said, sounding much calmer but still looking agitated. 'What should we do? You're our leader so you get to make the decision.'

Greta struggled not to wither under the pressure as she felt everyone watch her, waiting for a reply. Peter's gaze was, for the first time, the most intense, as if he was urging her to tell them to give up and go back to Beacon. Aurora and Rapture, however, were more questioning, asking her silently to give them a direction to follow. Despite everything, Greta was sure that Rapture was expecting her to continue on the course they had started on when they first set out from the dorms.

"For all the gods sake, why are we here?" Greta thought as she deliberated her choices. "Why did they have to go here? Why couldn't they just walk to somewhere we could easily follow them?"

'Alright,' she said after a lengthy pause where she saw the entire team give one another nervous or questioning glances. 'I've made up my mind. We're going in. We're going to finish this now and we're done with this.'

Every word she said was done with the sternest, most determined tone she could muster. She was tired of the whole issue and wanted it out of the way once and for all. She planned to do a little searching, enough to either confirm that they had lost the older students completely or just get the final vestiges of the urge to follow them out of their systems. Once that was over with, they would go back to the dorms and – if the gods were good to her – they wouldn't bring it up again.

'Right?' she asked, looking for clarity and, thankfully, receiving affirmatives from the others. Peter, despite giving his consent, still looked annoyed but he was no longer directing it at anyone in the team.

Together the four of them walked out onto the street and towards the invisible boundary set up by the police cordons. As they approached it Peter put his hand out in front of everyone, telling them to stop.

'I'll go first,' he said, sounding resigned. 'I want to check something.'

He walked up to the where the boundary was supposed to be and then leapt into the air, channelling Aura into his legs so that he lifted further off the ground than he should have. He sailed over the top of the cordons, somersaulting in mid-air as he did so and landed back on his feet on the other side. He stood in place, waiting for some kind of reaction. There was no alarm, no ringing klaxon, no automated apprehension systems activating and no sign of authorities moving in the immediate distance.

'Well,' he began, 'it's safe to pass over it.'

Rapture was the first to nod in response. She then ran up to the cordons and jumped as well, channelling her own Aura to provide a boost. She soared over the boundary, matching the height Peter had previously gained and then landed, rolling to reduce her momentum and then straightened up again.

Aurora followed after her, taking out Dark Majesty and unfolding it into its glaive form. She then stabbed the butt of the weapon's haft into the ground and hoisted herself up, vaulting over the boundary and gracefully landing back on the other side in one swift movement. Greta took a deep breath as she realised it was her turn.

Deciding to follow Aurora's example, she unfolded Firebrand into its fire-pike form and then pointed the dragon-headed muzzle at the floor. Clenching her jaw and narrowing her eyes, she pressed on the trigger and felt herself thrust into the air as a thin pillar of fire pushed her up and over the boundary. She somersaulted in the air as she shut off the jet of flame and folded Firebrand in mid-air. Approaching the ground she bent over, touched the ground with her feet and then rolled, coming back up again with only a slight feeling of being winded by the experience.

'Alright,' she then said after getting her breath back. 'Let's see what we can find.'

Together, every one of them noticeably uneasy, the team began to walk further into the ruined district. Greta's eyes darted back and forth around every street they wandered down and she knew the others were doing the same thing. The entire atmosphere of the district was nerve-wracking and the fact that every street they walked down was abandoned and crumbling made it worse. They could hear sounds of gunfire, moving vehicles and other signs of violence somewhere in the distance. Greta jumped when the echoing boom of a particularly loud explosion went off, the great noise sounding as if it was coming from every direction.

'I'm going to see if I can get a better view,' Aurora said, suddenly breaking the team's silence.

'Okay,' Greta said, giving Aurora permission to go ahead.

'We should stay close though,' Rapture added.

'Don't worry,' Aurora replied as she began to walk to one side of the street. 'I'll stay close.'

The dark-skinned girl then jogged over to one building in the street that stood out from the others. It was taller, with an extra story and a thin tower near the front that led up to a steeple. The building had likely been built as a temple if the tall, classical windows, arched doorway and tower were any indicators. Whilst the building was just as dilapidated as the others its tower looked like it would make a perfect vantage point for Aurora to survey the surrounding area.

Greta watched as Aurora took out Dark Majesty in its sniper-rifle form and pointed the muzzle at the ground. Now running, she leapt into the air, aimed her rifle at the ground and fired. She then rocketed into the air, the powerful recoil of her weapon forcing her up until she had cleared the roof and landed on it, near to where the base of the tower intersected with the sloping roof of the main structure. Not wasting any time or momentum, she fired a second shot and flew up to a mantle on the tower, at the base of the steeple.

Once she had landed, Aurora folded Dark Majesty up again and put it away. She then began to walk around the mantle, glancing in every direction and occasionally peering into the distance. Greta waited patiently with the others, switching between watching Aurora and keeping an eye on their surroundings. It was quite possible someone might have heard Aurora's shots and would then come to investigate.

After several minutes Aurora then jumped off of the steeple, passing the roof and heading straight for the ground. She once again deployed Dark Majesty and fired another shot, slowing down from the thrust of the recoil. She landed on her feet, spreading her legs out and bowing slightly to spread out the momentum before straightening again. She kept her weapon out this time.

'There's a lot of fires in the distance, a lot of smoke too,' Aurora said as she walked back to the group. 'I also saw something big coming down one of the nearby streets. I think it was some kind of mech.'

'We should start moving then,' Rapture suggested. 'Mechs means police and we really don't want them to find us here.'

'Yeah,' Greta agreed. They all set off down the street as quickly as they could, jogging to the crossroad that led onto another avenue.

'Hang on, hang on,' Peter suddenly said as he ran to the front of the group. 'I can sense a group coming around the corner at the back of the street. There's something big with them. It's probably the mech that Aurora saw.'

'So?' Greta asked, still jogging.

'Well whoever is at the front at this group is about to round that corner and we're still too far from the crossroad to turn onto the next street,' Peter replied, fixing everyone with a hard stare. 'We need to get off this street, now.'

'What?' Greta snapped. 'Are you serious.'

'Trust me,' Peter said quickly. 'They're almost here and they'll see us if we're not _very_ quick and get off the street now.'

Greta paused for a moment and looked around the street. Her gaze lingered for a moment on the nearest open door that led into the dark interior of one of the many large, decaying houses that lined the avenue. She cringed and then signalled for the rest of the team to follow her inside.

They ran into the abandoned house and quickly dove into a room. The entire building looked rotten with stains, patches of mould and other, unidentifiable detritus everywhere and no form of furniture. The entire room they were now standing in was bare of anything other than the scattered piles of litter and filth. Looking back at her team, Greta saw that Aurora and Peter were both looking rather queasy as they surveyed the area.

'Get down,' Peter whispered. 'They've rounded the corner.

Everyone ducked, Greta finding herself squatting next to one particularly foul pile of mould, her back against the rooms outer wall. A large window that was missing all of its glass was next to her as well, the filth beneath it likely having been blown in off of the street. As the entire group went quiet and still, they finally heard the new arrivals approach.

'How did you know where they were,' Aurora suddenly whispered. 'I just caught a glance of the mech and it was going a different direction.'

Peter stayed quiet and looked like he was considering whether or not it was a good idea to answer her. 'Aura sense,' he then quickly replied. 'I have a weak field that can feel out my surroundings. I need it for my semblance to work.'

Aurora nodded, looking satisfied with the response she got. Greta was happy that the conversation was over as the noises of the other group were a lot closer. There was the loud clanking of metallic feet and the loud, steady thud of a slowly marching mech. The sounds echoed around the empty street, reverberating in the dark corners of the room they were all now squatting within.

Greta edged up to the window and raised herself a little to peek through it. For several seconds she didn't see anything, the sound of the other group still echoing around her but none of the members actually walking into view. Then the first of them finally appeared.

Several figures marched mechanically in front of the window. They were all tall and armoured, with dark blue carapace plates on their torsos, waists, arms and legs with a fully enclosed, ovular helmet. The rest of their bodies was covered in hard, black materials and they carried what looked like some kind of standardised rifle in their hands. The visors of their helmets were opaque glass that seemed to have a dim light inside them. It only took Greta several seconds to realise that the officers in front of her droids.

"Knights," Greta thought as she quickly dived back down from view. She was quite familiar with the machines, her home district of Magnus often receiving the droids instead of human officers like most poorer regions of the megacity.

As she heard more feet march by she cautiously raised herself again and peeked back out into the street. This time, there were more of them, several dozen steadily marching past her in serried ranks. A few were spread out like scouts but they were not roaming more than a few metres from the main group and even they continued to walk in the same lock-step fashion as the others.

Then the mech came into view. Greta was slightly awed by the sight of the immense, first generation Atlesian Paladin as it slowly thundered down the road. The bulky construct was painted the same shade of police blue and had the Vale national flag printed on its side but was otherwise unmistakable from the Atlesian war machines she had seen in history books. The machine continued on, walking slightly slower than the Knights it dwarfed but covering just as much ground with its great strides. The noise it made as it marched past was much louder and Greta guessed most of the noise they had noticed when they realised the police column was bearing down on them had come from it.

More Knights followed after it and Greta was just about to get away from the window when she noticed the new group that was bringing up the rear of the column. It was four of the students they had spent most of the day following all the way into the district.

'Tha… that's Team GOLD,' she whispered to herself as she recognised the, now quite familiar, sight of Olivia Van Rot, the girl she had first seen from their group all those weeks ago.

She stayed quiet and still, trying to wait and listen to what the column was doing. She couldn't hear anyone break off of the main group or approach their hiding space so she was sure that none of them had spotted her. A quick glance at the rest of her team, who hadn't had an opportunity to look outside showed they were doing something similar, looks of concentration evident on their faces.

Eventually the police forces passed, the sound of their marching slowly fading into the distance. Greta had never felt more nervous in her entire life. Even Grimm hadn't been as nerve-wracking as the situation she had just found herself in. the others looked like they felt the same way as well, both Peter and Aurora struggling not to grimace in fear whilst Rapture was oddly still and unwilling to move.

'We need to move,' Greta whispered, inching slowly towards the others.

'How many were out there?' Aurora asked nervously, her eyes darting towards the door and windows, as if she was expecting someone to burst through them.

'Dunno,' Greta answered. 'Couple of dozen, maybe. GOLD was with them.'

'Wait, what?' Rapture asked, snapping out of her quiet state. 'We found them again? Now we can keep following them.'

'Are you crazy?' Greta hissed. 'They have police droids with them.'

'Yeah but, come on,' Rapture replied, once again looking unsure and hesitant even as she defended herself. 'They're why we came here, isn't it?'

'We're not even supposed to be here,' Peter seethed, looking angry again.

Yeah,' Rapture countered. 'Since we got into here we might as well get something to show for it and...'

'Um, excuse me,' Aurora suddenly said, interrupting the argument. 'How good are you all at walking on rooftops?'

'What?' Greta asked, stumped by what she had just heard. She also heard Rapture say the exact same thing whilst Peter simply gave a sardonically questioning glare. 'Roofs?'

'Yes,' Aurora confirmed. 'The rooftops look like a decent vantage point and a serviceable blind-spot for Team GOLD if we move quietly enough. We should be able to follow them and it will be a bit easier to evade them even of they do spot us.'

'Actually, that's a good idea,' Rapture agreed, nodding contentedly at the suggestion.

Peter grimaced at his teammates and then groaned audibly as he threw his head into his hands. Greta, meanwhile, pondered over the suggestion. She had given up on the argument over their plan long ago and just wanted to find some kind of consensus now. Throwing her weight around before had only just delayed the issue, dragged it out and annoyed everyone and so she needed to find some way to resolve the issue.

'Fine but we're out of here the moment they see us,' Greta said in as commanding a tone as she could make.

'Oh definitely,' Aurora agreed. She then looked up at the ceiling with a thoughtful expression on her face. 'We should be able to get to the roof from inside this building. I don't think we would all be able to climb up from the outside.'

'Alright,' Greta sighed before repeating herself in a louder tone.

The entire team quickly and quietly moved up the stairs and onto the upper floor. Everyone trod lightly, the weakened floorboards protesting under their weight. Everyone tested the floor in front of them, avoiding the areas that flexed and sagged when they put a foot down on them. Finally, Aurora led the way into a large room at the front end of the upper floor that was just as dilapidated and filthy as the room they had previously hidden inside.

'Master bedroom?' she quietly asked, looking at Peter who was evaluating the room around them distractedly.

'Most likely,' he replied, his tone trying to sound light. He looked back at Aurora and gave a small smirk. 'It could use a little work.'

'There's a window,' Rapture then interrupted before they could continue. 'Can we get through that?'

Aurora walked over to the open, glass-less window carefully and then peered outside, looking up and around herself. She then turned back to the group nodded at them and then clambered out and over to one side. Greta watched as her teammate pulled herself up and out of view. Peter then walked up looked outside for a moment and then immediately teleported out in a flash.

Greta looked at Rapture, feeling unsure. Rapture stared back with a similar look before screwing her face into a more determined expression, nodded at her and then walked over to the window. Greta watched as the faunus girl pulled herself out and up until she couldn't see her. Greta could hear some slight noise as her team walked about over her head. Sighing, she finally walked up to the window, looked outside and then grabbed a section of the wall beside her. With a firm handhold, she kicked off of the windowsill and swung out until she was facing the wall and able to use her other hand to grab at the bricks in front of her.

It took her several seconds to pull herself up to the roof, finding plenty of hand and toeholds in the cracked brickwork. When she finally lifted her body up and brought her feet onto the top of the roof, she found the others already waiting for her. Peter and Aurora were both eyeing the tiles around them worriedly as they stood lightly on the tiles.

'You alright?' Greta asked as she got her feet on the tilted surface.

'We're just not sure how stable this all is,' Peter replied.

'This probably wasn't the best idea,' Aurora admitted, looking slightly embarrassed.

Greta groaned frustratedly and rubbed her face in annoyance. She fixed her team with an exasperated and agitated expression and saw them all flinch a little, all of them refusing to look her in the eye. Peter was frowning as if he was trying not give her a similar look in response but Aurora and Rapture seemed more contrite.

'Lets just get this over with,' Greta seethed, carefully stepping past the others as she tried to avoid portions of the roof that appeared to be sagging or looked like they were about to fall away. She heard the others follow after her but she didn't look back. She was too tired, too frustrated and ready to simply finish their little self-applied mission as soon as possible.

* * *

The trip across the rooftops of the district had been a slow and aggravating process but Greta had weathered the ordeal. She had made her decision and had she was going to stick with it no matter what. She hadn't felt this exhausted since the big fight with Rapture that now felt like it had been both the other day and a lifetime ago.

Despite the need to remain hidden and the need to work their way around the weakened sections of the roofs, they had managed to keep up with Team GOLD and the police force that accompanied them. Crossing streets had been more difficult with Peter or Aurora often having to ferry them over with their respective semblances. Taking trips with either of her teammates had been unsettling. The unnatural sensation of compression that Peter's teleportation put her through made her feel like all of her innards had decided to jump from the top of her body, back down to the bottom and then into their original place again. Flying on the winds that Aurora was able to pick up, which often did little more than boost an Aura enhanced jump, was just as unnerving as she could feel the air cushion and push at her, keeping her aloft but, at the same time, seeming like they weren't there as they carried her.

Now, however, they were all perched on one of the rooftops, the police column now almost directly below them as it had stopped marching. Team GOLD were talking amongst themselves as the droids stood in place, silently awaiting their next orders.

Greta and her teammates were also completely silent as they perched on one of the roofs above the column. They were all waiting patiently to see what their targets would do. She didn't dare say anything but did glance at the others every now and then, seeing stoic expressions in return. At one point Greta was sure she saw Rapture give her a questioning look, as if she was silently trying to ask whether or not they make their own move. She had shook her head, seeing the others had noticed and picked up what she was trying to convey.

Finally Team GOLD came to a decision and began to move again, their robotic forces noisily following after them. This time though, they had broken into a faster pace. Greta's eyed widened as she saw Olivia Van Rot open her cloak up and sprout two large white feathered wings from her back. The red clad girl then took off into the air, soaring overhead and landing on one of the rooftops. Team GRAP immediately ducked back behind the other side roof they were on, Greta praying to every god she could think of in hope that they hadn't been spotted.

She could still hear the droids trotting below them as the Knights followed after the upper years. After several seconds they all cautiously peeked back from behind their cover to see Olivia was gone. Peter and Aurora nervously checked the skies above them to see if Olivia was flying overhead but the winged girl was nowhere in sight.

'What now?' Peter asked.

'Well, I think we need to…' Greta was suddenly cut off as she tried to give an order. The near silence of their surroundings was shattered by the sudden sound of rapid and intense gunfire.

'The hell!' Rapture exclaimed before beginning to clamber in the direction of the noise.

'Rapture,' Aurora hissed, a snarl on her face. She snorted in frustration before taking off after her partner, bounding lightly across the rooftops with the support of her semblance.

Greta saw Peter whip his head around to look at her, a questioning gaze back on his face. Greta frowned for a moment as she thought about what they should do, hesitance and trepidation weighing down on her. The longer she deliberated, the further her teammates got away from them and so, once she saw how much distance was between the two pairs, she got up.

'Come on,' she said to Peter with a groan of annoyance. 'We need to get them back.'

She then bounded after them, Peter quickly catching up to her. The run across the roofs was rather awkward as, on occasion, the tiles she stepped on would flex and, at one point, even gave way shortly after she pushed off of it. The noise of the firefight was close enough that her proximity to it didn't really make a difference to how loud it was but Greta swore that the further along the street she got, the worse the harsh cacophony of gunfire became.

She ran around a corner in the rooftops and then saw that her teammates had crossed over the street onto the opposite side of rooftops. Grunting, she unslung Firebrand, unfolded it and pointed it behind herself like she had seen Aurora do with Dark Majesty. Pressing down on the trigger, she felt herself get pushed forward as the weapon's fiery discharge thrust her into the air. She sailed over the street, feeling oddly weightless as she did so and then ceased firing, the momentum carrying her over to the roof Rapture and Aurora were lying on.

She collided rather roughly with the tiles of the roof, grunting in exertion as she grabbed a handhold. After several seconds of mild discomfort from her landing, she realised that the roof had thankfully been somewhat stable and wasn't sagging or crumbling beneath her. For a moment, she considered refolding Firebrand but then decided – with the firefight they were walking towards, now, so close to them – that it was better to keep her weapon out.

A sudden flash heralded Peter's arrival as he crouched next to her, still on his feet and with his body low. He looked at her and she shook her head, assuming he was asking whether or not they were supposed to keep moving.

'What are you doing?' Greta tried to say but her voice was drowned out by the noise of the nearby battle. She did manage to get the faunus girl's attention though.

Rapture cocked her head and then nodded it at the other side of the roof. Greta looked in the direction Rapture had pointed and realised what she meant. The battle had to be on the other side, the team now separated from a firefight by a few metres of tile, wood and brick. The sounds of battle suddenly seemed so much more real. She had fought Grimm plenty of times, had battled with other students in classes and even survived a genuine attempted murder when she had run into the Red Fang suicide bomber. The fight going on over the tip of the roof, however, sounded more chaotic than anything she had ever experienced before.

Gunfire went off in violent bursts that overlapped one another, punctuated by the occasional large explosions, the sounds of metal being pierced and the screams of combatants. She couldn't even tell what the fighters were screaming. They could be shouting war-cries, reacting to wounds or letting out their final screams as they died.

'We need to get out of here!' she shouted, seeing that the others had thankfully heard her.

It was then that the section of roof to her right bulged out in an instant and then exploded, throwing her to the left, colliding into Rapture as she did so. She saw Peter, who had been on the other side of the exploding portion of the rooftop, go flying in the other direction, tumbling over the ledge and down to the street.

Greta scrambled to find a handhold, the tiles flying away beneath her fingertips as she did so. Rapture was digging her claws into the rooftop, the tiles and wooden supports crumbling underneath her as the decayed materials, now completely shattered by the explosion, finally gave way. Greta grabbed the ledge just as she was about of fall off it, the concrete thankfully holding in place and keeping her up. She quickly looked around, debris, dust and dirt raining down on her, to see that Rapture had managed to do the same, Aurora was clinging into a brick chimney that it looked like she had collided with as her position was uncomfortable and unsure.

Looking to her right she saw Peter hanging off the wall, one of his Piccolo stakes embedded in the wall and a chain keeping him attached to it. He looked especially shaken and was breathing heavily.

Greta heaved herself back onto the roof, Rapture doing the same whilst Peter teleported onto it again, putting his weaponry back. Aurora groaned as she lowered herself off of the chimney, one hand clutching her stomach. Greta realised that she was, once again, close to the giant hole that now cut through the middle of the roof they were lying on. The sounds of battle were still raging on the other side but now sounded even more ominous as the echoed through the great gash in the building.

Despite her better judgement, Greta inched towards the edge of the hole and peeked her head through. At first, she had to adjust herself further as the broken remains of the rooftops support struts blocked the view but soon she was able to see the carnage on the other side.

The entire street had been torn up by weaponry, already ruined houses now ravaged by dents, gashes and increasingly large holes in the crumbling masonry, battered brickwork and cracked asphalt. It seemed that the police column had surrounded one of the houses, which was now practically collapsing in slow motion as Dust rounds and grenades pulled it apart with every discharge of Dust. Several droids were lying on the ground, great tears and gouges in their exoskeletons. Occasionally visible through the broken windows and doorway of the house, were several figures in masks returning fire before ducking back behind their deteriorating cover.

A few Red Fang members were also on the outside, hiding behind a burning truck that was now ridden with bullet holes. They were peeking out from behind their cover to fire at the Knights and hiding back away again. A couple of others were trying to drag several boxes away from the truck and back to the house, which has a large door – presumably a garage – sitting wide open.

In the centre of the maelstrom of violence was the Paladin and, to Greta's surprise, it had been wrecked. It was lying on its side, one of its legs missing, its arms sticking out and twitching in an attempt to move. The mech's missile pods had burst open and were smoking and the cockpit had a large tear in its exterior armour.

Standing behind it were the members of Team GOLD. Their leader – Geoffrey as she remembered it from the student profiles Peter got – the boy with the large shield and a trident was standing with both of his weapons raised and in a guard position. To his left was a dark-skinned girl in yellow armour who was holding a heavy warhammer and standing in a crouch, as if she was about to pounce forward at any moment. On Geoffrey's right was another boy in blue and gold armour that held a sword at the ready in what almost looked like a duellist's pose. Behind them was Olivia, crouched low with her wings out but tucked behind her, a sabre in her hands.

Before them, standing atop the wreckage of the Paladin, was a massive man. He was dressed in a white shirt that was open at the neckline, bearing the top of his chest. He wore dark brown trousers, a large brown overcoat on top of his shirt and a bloody red coloured mask with three white scars painted over the front. His arms were incredibly thick, covered in hair and disproportionately long as they reached far down. On the man's wrists were a pair of massive gauntlets that covered his hands in thick metal armour and had incredibly large, reinforced machine guns attached to the top. He was staring down the members of Team GOLD and then, after another tense moment, raised his fists and glared down at the upper years through his mask, challenging them to make a move.

Greta was stunned as she watched the confrontation in the middle of the chaotic battle slowly begin to unfold. She felt confusion and an oppressive worry that pressed down on her. Already, a thousand questions were racing through her head as what she was seeing began to register in her mind, all at once. Only one of these questions, however, was voiced.

'What's going on?' Greta whispered dumbly as slowly observed the next phase of the unfolding battle.


	7. Chapter Seven: Very Different Conflicts

**Warning:** _This chapter does depict stronger violence than is the norm for this story. As far as I can tell it does fall within the limits of the rating though._

 **Chapter** **S** **even** **:** **Very Different Conflicts** **:**

 **November** **3** **rd** **1462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

Geoffrey Strong had felt good about the mission for the first time in weeks. Nearly a month of general inaction, dead leads and general failure at investigating the Red Fang had left him frustrated. His usual attempts to blow off steam hadn't helped either as he constantly had to worry about breaking his cover. He couldn't talk idly anymore, he couldn't train openly too often for risk of giving away his style to potential suspects and his inability to sign up for the Vytal Festival due to his obligations to the mission had left him rather annoyed.

The recent reports from the police that had supposed that the Red Fang were expanding their operations once again had been a lifesaver for him. He had leapt at the opportunity to actually make progress in the investigation and immediately intervened in the police offensive, commandeering a unit of police Knights and even securing an automated Paladin to help assault and apprehend a suspected Red Fang outpost.

Now they were on the street across from the target location, their supporting forces assembled and programmed for combat. Olivia had just taken to the skies to confirm a visual of the enemy stronghold and see whether or not there were any signs of activity or if they were keeping the site a secret.

'So,' Lily Smith began as she walked to his side, 'how are we tackling this?'

'We could try to surround the house but most of these buildings have had passages knocked through into the others,' Darius said as he came to join the group. 'If we tried to cover all the possible ways they could slip through in this warren we'd be spreading the Knights too thinly.'

'We could station Knights along the street and back alley,' Lily suggested. 'Even if they do run through other houses they have to come out onto the streets eventually and we can catch them as they try to flee.'

'We're waiting until Olivia gets back with a report,' Geoffrey said, quieting his teammates. He looked up at the red-clad faunus girl as she perched herself on the rooftops and surveyed the street beyond.

'As you say,' Darius replied respectfully, Lily nodding in compliance as well as the two of them turned silent.

Several seconds later Olivia swept back down to the ground again. She landed in a crouch, her fingers stretched out as she steadied herself and brushing the floor. After another moment she straightened herself again and looked the rest of the team in their eyes.

'Report,' Geoffrey barked as quietly as he could, eager to hear what she had to say.

'They're there,' Olivia replied in a clipped tone. 'Best part is they're not even trying to hide. There's a truck out the front that's being loaded up. I wasn't able to see what they're loading onto it but it looks heavy and they were handling most of it with care.'

'How many?' Geoffrey asked.

'Three,' Olivia replied immediately. 'Maybe four. At least one's a woman but the men looked the same.'

'Is there any chance more might by inside?' Lily piped up.

'I couldn't really say,' Olivia replied. 'It never looked like the faunus I did see were going to far into the house to get their equipment and no major group would store things so close to the entrance where other criminals could get it.'

'We should expect more opponents to be in there then,' Geoffrey said. To emphasise his point he raised Phalanx and Aureus, his trident and shield up to his chest.

'Right,' the rest of his team responded simultaneously. They readied their weapons as well.

'Send half the unit back around the other side of the street to secure that end, double time,' Geoffrey ordered. 'We'll move with the other half and the Paladin down the route we were already going.'

'Understood,' the other replied. Lily pulled up her left arm, a silvery wristband on it and pressed several buttons. Immediately, several dozen Knights turned about and began to jog back down the street. The other droids remained in place, waiting for Team GOLD to start moving.

'Move out,' Geoffrey barked, prompting his team, the remaining consignment of Knights and the Paladin to start jogging to the other end of the street. The Paladin quickly outpaced them, not having to break into a run to make it past the rest of the group.

The bulky mech stopped just short of the street corner and waited in position for the rest of the group to catch up, the unit's AI estimating that it would have been a poor strategy to separate itself. Geoffrey picked up his own pace and was soon standing back in the shadow of the Paladin, peeking around the street corner to see if any enemies were waiting for them or trying to flee.

"Going quietly wouldn't make much of a difference by this point but it can't hurt either," Geoffrey decided silently. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out an earpiece with a separate microphone, connected digitally to one another.

'This is Geoffrey,' he spoke over them. 'All forces acknowledge.'

A buzz of binary static filled his ears before it switched into an automated record of the units under his command. Every one of the droids he was given sounded off in the same tinny, robotic voice. He then signalled with his hands to tell his own team to put on their own earpieces.

'Lily here,' the voice of his partner spoke in his ears. Olivia and Darius confirmed that they were also now on the line as well.

'We'll be rushing the place,' Geoffrey stated into the microphone, speaking quietly, confident that his voice would be clearly broadcast to them. 'I want another quarter of the Knights to cordon off the other end of the street while the rest will be coming with us and the Paladin. We'll be suppressing the Red Fang here, avoid lethal violence if at all possible.'

Nodding at his team, he then ran around the corner and down the street that separated the avenue on the other side from the one he had just been standing in. The sound of rapidly stamping feet told him that everyone was following him. It took a few seconds for him to cross over to the other street despite the weight of his armour and weaponry and he ran around the street corner.

As he came onto the avenue, he saw the other half of the droid force he was commanding already part of the way down the street, closing in on the house they knew the Red Fang were hiding in. Several wrecked vehicles, most of them quite rusted and missing parts that had been taken off of them by enterprising scavengers, lay on the street. In front of the house, however, was a working truck with several boxes strapped down onto the back. Three figures in long overcoats and with red Grimm masks covering their faces were loading other boxes onto the truck when they noticed the droids and Huntsmen bearing down on them.

'The fuzz!' one of the Red fang members shouted. 'Get Louie!'

One of the members raced for the door, their sudden movement getting the attention of the Knights and setting off their suppression protocols. A rain of bullets shot out at the truck, the house and the faunus standing by either locations as the platoon of advancing droids raised their guns and opened fire. Geoffrey was glad he had set the Knights' weapons to non-lethal and stun as he had failed to anticipate the automated response being set off before he could give any actual orders.

'Rush the house,' he barked into his microphone. 'I want the entrance secured before they can fortify it or get away. Spread the droids out, have the Paladin secure that truck and the entranceway. Team, you're with me. We'll be going in there once the perimeter's up.'

Geoffrey then raised his shield and barrelled forward, sprinting as quickly as his heavy suit of armour would allow him. His charge was met with bullets as the two Red Fang soldiers pulled out automatic pistols they had strapped to their belts and fired them at him. With Aureus raised, he weathered the shots and continued forward. He had used the strategy before, drawing enemy fire by presenting himself as the biggest, most obvious target whilst the rest of his team fanned out to flank the foe.

After advancing a few steps, Geoffrey went down on one knee and slammed the bottom of his shield into the ground. The bullets still rattled off of the reinforced alloy and with his protection in place, Geoffrey raised Phalanx and pointed it at one of the faunus. He pushed down on a button set in the middle of the large trident and several cylinders began to spin. Two very thin gun barrels extended along the top of the main haft and around the central tip of the trident. The push of another button saw his Phalanx fire two slim Dust rounds at one of the gunmen. The shots hit the faunus and burst out short bolts of lightning. The faunus collapsed on the ground, convulsing and twitching as disoriented nerves and synapses continued to fire off.

Geoffrey paused as he saw his two opponents' reactions. "They don't have an Aura," he realised. "Doesn't change anything," he then decided as his robotic forces rushed forward with more suppressive fire. "Finish the mission."

With two of the enemy downed and the third having run into the house the Red Fang had made their stronghold, the droids ran forward to secure the street. The Knights formed into loose ranks, with enough space between them to allow for flexible manoeuvrability. The Paladin, meanwhile, thundered over to where the truck was still parked and planted its feet, its upper half rotating at the waist to point its entire arsenal and most of its sensors at the house.

'Alright,' Geoffrey said as his automated forces executed the plan. 'Bring half the Knights with us. The Paladin stays where it is. We're going to flush this place clean.'

As they were about to warily advance on the house the Paladin crouched, battle protocols setting off as its guns visibly primed. Sensors unfolded and trained themselves on the house, marker lights flashing around as they sought out targets that had presumably begun to move within the structure.

It was then that a small spherical object, a grenade, was thrown out through the main entrance. One of the Paladin's interceptor guns snapped out of its compartment in an instant and shot the explosive before it could reach the ground. The grenade detonated, ejecting smoke out over the front of the house. Barely a second after the grenade was shot out of the air, as the Paladin's sensors searched through the thick, dyed smoke, more grenades flew out of the smoke. With the mech's sensors still realigning themselves, the grenades hit the ground around it and exploded violently, fire and concussive force coming out instead of smoke.

"Decoy bomb," Geoffrey deduced as he crouched behind his shield against the force of the explosions. He was surprised about how powerful the grenades had been, their explosive force far too powerful to be cheap black market fare.

A storm of bullets then shot out of the slowly dissipating, most of the bullets rattling off of the Paladin's armour as it tried to reorient itself from the previous bombardment. Several Red Fang members ran out of the smoke, turning and training their guns on the Knights and Team GOLD. Others remained in the building, taking position in windows and the doorway of the entrance.

It was then that a huge figure strode out of the smoke as it finally cleared. Geoffrey was almost taken aback as the largest man he had ever seen in his life stepped forward. The faunus that walked into the street towered over the rest of his accomplices and his thick muscles were noticeable even under his uniform. He wore the usual dark clothing and long brown overcoat that everyone else in his group were dressed in and his face was covered by a red Grimm mask that had the iconic three white slash marks across the middle, as if a Beowolf had raked them down his face. Geoffrey could see thick hair on his chest, which was exposed through his partially opened shirt, and on the back of his massive hands. His thick, muscular arms were also much longer than a human's should be, reaching down almost to his knees. On the end of his enormous arms were a pair of massive gauntlets that covered his hands in armour and had large, bulky machine guns mounted on the top of the gauntlet's wrists.

'Humans,' the faunus brute announced in a loud voice that carried his barely restrained anger. He turned to fix Team GOLD with a glare that was noticeable even through his fully covering mask 'I am Louie Aalam, the last thing you will ever see.'

The huge faunus then raised his arms and fired a stream of massive rounds into the Paladin. Various sensors exploded as the Red Fang enforcer angled his arms and the machine guns mounted on them towards the devices. The Paladin moved, defence protocols forcing it to protect its eyes and ears. The towering machine raised one of its own arms and fired a blast of energy at Louie who ducked out of the way, throwing himself to the ground and letting the shot fly past him and into the house.

'Back up the mech,' Geoffrey shouted, rushing forward to support the ailing unit.

It was then that the Red Fang turned to him, firing off more shots. Geoffrey went down on one knee and planted his shield again. He pointed Phalanx out and fired off several more shots. The Red Fang responded with more grenades and Geoffrey was almost thrown to the ground as the force of several powerful explosions hit him. His semblance activated, rooting him to the ground and keeping him in place, growing stronger as the concussive force tried to knock him down. The rest of his team weren't as lucky, Lily falling to the ground alongside Darius. Thankfully, they were controlled drops and they rolled back to the feet with barely a second's delay.

Olivia had already taken to the air and drawn her reinforced sabre, Justicia Imperia. She stayed at a distance, bobbing and swaying in the air as she tried to dodge the guns that had been aimed at her. Unfortunately, despite his suggestions – and then his insistence – she had refused to upgrade the blade with a ranged mechashift function, leaving it as a simple sword. Now, with the Red Fang keeping her a distance with their directed fire, she was practically useless.

'Lily,' Geoffrey shouted back, still crouching behind his shield as he got to his feet. 'Order the Knights to lay down suppressive fire.'

As his teammate hurriedly typed new orders into the command console on her wrist, Louie was closing in on the Paladin. The huge faunus picked up a crate from the truck and threw it at the mech, the box splintering and breaking open as it collided on the ground. Cases of Dust flew open and scattered on the ground around the Paladin's feet. He then aimed one of his gauntlets at the uncut Dust crystals and assorted ammunition packs and fired at it.

The Dust detonated in a cacophonous explosion as protective casings gave way under the power of the initial burst of fire and set off waves of further explosions. The Paladin teetered as it's feet were torn apart from under it and then fell over on its side as one of its legs was ruptured and blew apart.

The mech struggled as it tried to lift its bulk off of the street and train its guns on the Red Fang again. Missile pods opened up and fired off several shots, most of which veered off and collided with buildings in the cramped space. Without marker lights to guide them, the missiles all failed to hit the Red Fang and instead tore holes in the street instead. One eventually hit the truck, blowing it up and detonating the crates which exploded as well and tore the truck's chassis apart in a massive fireball. Louie, meanwhile, charged forward, ignoring the explosions around him and ran onto the immobilised portion of the Paladin.

He fired at the joints of the Paladin's arms, heavy, armour piercing rounds ripping through servos and transmission lines with disturbing ease. The arms now rendered useless, he then turned on the missiles pods, firing at the covers until the Paladin opened them again to loose another salvo. Louie then fired into the pods. The missiles didn't detonate, fail-safes keeping them from exploding prematurely, but the pods took horrendous damage and soon became unable to fire from the physical warping they suffered.

As the Knight began to return fire against the Red Fang, Louie climbed up to the cockpit, where the controls and processor of the Paladin were hidden inside and gripped the sides of the cockpit's face. His muscles tensing and his body glowing with exerted Aura, he pulled at the damaged defensive armour. The plating refused to budge but as Louie pulled at it, his machine guns blazed once again, the thick Dust rounds hammering into the edge of the plate he was gripping as he prised it off.

Slowly, the cockpit's exterior covering gave way and then, with a roar, Louie ripped it off, exposing the innards of the mech's control system. Louie threw the front of the Paladin's cockpit aside and aimed his machine guns into it. He then let loose a long series of shots, his guns hammering into the Paladin's control systems until the machine was barely able to move. The servos still twitched but failed to respond properly.

By this point the Knights had managed to return fire, forcing the Red Fang to duck behind cover. Several fell from the stun rounds, dropping to the ground and twitching slightly as they tried to move. Geoffrey watched as Louie stood tall and straight, stun rounds bouncing off of his Aura.

'Everyone,' Geoffrey shouted over the noise. 'Formation Gamma, we're suppressing a big target.'

Lily and Darius raced to take up positions on his flanks whilst Olivia flew down and landed behind him. Geoffrey saw his teammates raise their weapons and stare down the massive faunus enforcer as he, in turn, took up a guard position. There was a brief, tense moment where both stood and stared at one another, waiting to see who would make the first move. Then a stun round from one of the Knights ricocheted off of a wall and struck Louie in the head. The faunus flinched as his Aura absorbed the electric shock and blunted the round but irritated him nonetheless.

'Now,' Geoffrey barked and Lily and Darius bolted forward.

Lily was the fastest, barrelling forward, her massive warhammer, Vulkan, raised close to her chest as she sprinted at Louie. Olivia then appeared behind in the air behind her, her wings spread wide. The faunus girl picked Lily up with barely a grunt of exertion and lifted her above the street. As soon as she was above the wrecked remains of the Paladin, Olivia let go of her teammate and let her drop back down to the ground. Lily, meanwhile, raised her hammer over her head and pressed a button. An energy reaction was set off in the hammer's head as bright lines of restrained power lit up on Vulkan's ends.

Louie looked up as he saw the armoured, dark-skinned girl hurtled down to his position. Geoffrey watched the huge faunus man just manage to leap out of the way of Lily's attack. The moment Lily and her hammer hit the ground a huge flash of light was set off and a wave of Dust-powered energy shot out of the spot Lily had struck, almost flattening the exposed, vulnerable portions of the Paladin. Louie was caught up in the blow and fell over on his back but quickly flipped onto his feet again, just in time to take a blow from Darius.

Geoffrey watched as Louie weathered the blow, swayed back on his feet and then slammed a fist forward with all of his weight onto the smaller boy. Darius tried to block the blow but was sent reeling from the strike, which Louie followed up with another, slamming Darius to the ground.

It was then that Olivia swooped in. diving down from the sky, feet first, she kicked out at the back of Louie's head and disoriented him. The large faunus stumbled forward, just as Lily charged to meet him, her hammer held in place for an underarm strike. As Lily swung her hammer up, Louie lashed out, his feet suddenly finding firm ground. His long, right arm struck out and hit Lily, sending her sprawling onto her back. Firming his stance, Louie then raised his guns and pointed them at Geoffrey.

Seeing that he was now the target and hoping to give his teammates enough time to recover, Geoffrey raised his shield and charged at Louie. The instant he began to move forward, Geoffrey felt the harsh impact of heavy-duty, armour piercing Dust rounds on Aureus. His arm almost immediately began to throb in pain despite his Aura and he swore that it was already starting to bruise. Roaring in anger and pain, Geoffrey still ran on, his head ducked behind the tall barrier his shield presented, his only indication that he was getting closer to Louie being the decreasing time gap and increasing strength of the bullets.

Breathing hard, he ran up to Louie. The faunus ceased fire and raised his fists, about to strike a blow but Geoffrey made the first move. Despite the excruciating pain in his left arm, Geoffrey struck out with Aureus, using the heavy tower shield as a bludgeon and hit Louie's arms with it, throwing off the faunus' balance. Before Louie could respond, Geoffrey stabbed Phalanx into the enforcer's abdomen. Louie's Aura prevented the blow from even touching the skin, let alone breaking it but it did wind him. Geoffrey instantly pressed down on Phalanx's trigger, firing two electrical Dust rounds.

Louie reeled back from the two blunt assaults to his midsection, just in time for Olivia – who had remained in the air – to swing back around and dive down at him, head-first, her sabre pulled back to deliver a powerful blow. The aerial Huntress struck him with the full force and momentum of her assault and drove the man to the ground. He kicked back out as he fell to the street floor, knocking her away. Geoffrey rushed forward to keep up the assault, his numbed left arm dropping Aureus.

Trident in hand, Geoffrey rushed at Louie as the man rolled back onto his feet and stabbed at him with it. At the same time, Darius, who had gotten back up and flanked around the Red Fang enforcer, ran up and slashed at Louie with his sword. Louie was once again pinned between different attackers both rushing at him from different angles. He tried to turn, swinging his fists out and occasionally letting loose bursts of heavy machine gun fire that the team struggled to dodge. Olivia, who had stayed out of Louie's disoriented field of vision, dived back down again and kicked out at his head, striking him hard and knocking the mask off of his face.

Louie responded by looking up at her and aiming both of his guns at her, roaring as he fired. Olivia pirouetted in the air to stay out of the path of the spray of Dust bullets but several struck her wings. The force of the shots hurt her wings and knocked the girl from the sky, forcing her to try to control her crash landing as she hit the street near the remaining Red Fang forces in front of the house. Olivia hit the pavement hard but was able to roll onto her feet again and bring Justicia Imperia up into a guard position in the same movement.

Darius returned to the fray once again, his sword weaving around him in a series of precise strokes that connected harshly with Louie whenever he got too close. Keeping up the attack, Darius decided to punctuate his blows with several shots from the pistol built into the hilt and guard of his sword. Louie flinched back from the assault but refused to go down, answering, instead, with a series of swings and hooks of his own. Darius tried to dodge but the moment one of them struck him he was sent flying back.

Lily ran forward as Darius fell back and swung Vulkan at the faunus enforcer. Letting out a battlecry, she swung the warhammer about her, charging up the Dust fuelled energy converter as she feinted repeatedly to buy time for the weapon. The moment Vulkan was fully charged Lily ceased her false assault and instead swung her weapon out as far and as hard as she could and hit Louie with the full force of the hammer.

There was an explosion of light and noise as Louie took the full force of Vulkan's concentrated energy. A wave of force similar to one Lily had opened the fight with erupted out of her warhammer, with Louie as the epicentre of the blast. Geoffrey winced as the glare of his partner's attack hurt his eyes and he looked away. Lily rarely used this much power in her attacks and had likely set it up as a coup de grace.

Blinking desperately to clear his eyes, Geoffrey looked back at where Louie and Lily had been standing and saw that the faunus was no longer there. Lily was crouched a few feet away from her previous position, Her arms raised over her lowered body to protect herself and Vulkan in her right hand. Darius was lying several feet further away to the right, visibly dazed and trying to get back to his feet and steady himself.

Looking about, Geoffrey finally found Louie lying in an indent in the ruined chassis of the truck his conspirators had been loading crates into before the battle started. He had several noticeable bruises and gashes on him and there were trickles of blood running down his arms and face. His Aura was likely gone but he still wasn't finished. Geoffrey could see the man struggle to lift himself out of the large dent he had made in the truck when he hit it. Grimacing, Geoffrey raised Phalanx in his good hand and fired two stun rounds at the enforcer. The shots hit Louie and detonated, shocking the larger man and finally rendering him unconscious as he slumped back down.

Geoffrey almost slumped over as a wave of relief and fatigue washed over him simultaneously. The quick reminder that he was still in the middle of a battle ended that desire and he straightened again, wincing as a stab of pain shot through his injured left arm. He wasn't exactly sure what was wrong with him but every attempt to move his arm was almost useless and he swore he could feel some kind of breakage somewhere in his forearm, where most of the brunt force from Louie's relentless barrage had been spent.

He looked about to see how the rest of the battle was going, noticing that no guns had been aimed at his team as they tried to recover from their intense battle with Louie Aalam. Turning back to his house, Phalanx raised in his right hand, he saw that the Red Fang had no more forces out on the street. Olivia had taken over the direct attack on the stronghold and was leading the Knights in a rush on the entrance. Much of the outside of the ground floor was cleared and stunned Red Fang members were being cuffed by some of the Knights as they lay prone on the ground. A quartet of droids, led by Darius who was still looking a little unsteady on his feet, were also picking up Louie and forcing a pair of flexible plastalloy cuffs around his huge wrists.

'Geoffrey,' Lily called out, grabbing his attention. 'You alright?'

'I'm alright,' Geoffrey assured her. 'What's your Aura level at?'

'Middling,' Lily replied casually before straightening. 'I mean, at about fifty to fifty five percent.' She then glanced at the control panel on her wrist and then frowned. 'You seem to be closer to thirty percent.'

'Back up Olivia with the assault then,' Geoffrey ordered. 'I'll set up a perimeter with Darius and oversee the detention of the Red Fang we capture.'

'Right,' Lily replied before saluting him and running off to assist her teammate in storming the remains of the house.

Taking a moment to watch her leave, he surveyed the battlefield. Despite the bodies on the floor, he couldn't see any actual corpses, all of the Red Fang having thankfully all been put alongside one another in a group designated for official arrest. The centre of the street was dominated by a ruined, completely disabled Paladin and the burning chassis of the destroyed truck. Several broken droids also littered parts of the street but they were few in number.

'In the name of the king,' Geoffrey muttered, reciting the mantra he often repeated. The phrase was almost meaningless to most people but it helped keep him calm and directed. With the way things were going, he felt he needed the reminder of who he was and what he did with his life.

* * *

Greta felt very nervous as she watched the battle wind down. She had been on the edge of the roof in intense anxiety, metaphorically and literally. She had spent the entire fight between Team GOLD and the massive Red Fang brute carefully trying to keep an eye on the battle whilst staying out of view. It was when the fight was over, after the dark-skinned hammer-wielder of Team GOLD had unleashed a massive attack, that she had felt the section of roof she was lying on shift underneath her.

Since then she had barely moved, worried that the slightest movement would cause the roof to collapse. The rest of her team had also found vantage points to watch the fight and hadn't yet noticed her predicament. Greta inched her head to the right, hoping she could catch Peter's eye but saw he was engrossed in the final stage of the battle, intently watching Team GOLD and their forces as they moved into the house they had been attacking.

'Um,' Greta tentatively stuttered, trying to lean forward a bit to make herself heard more easily. It was then that she felt the roof beneath her shift down very suddenly. Panicking, she saw she was tipping forward, a deceptively quiet splintering noise suddenly becoming apparent.

'Pete...' she began to shout just as the roof crumbled beneath her body. Letting out a squeak of shock and terror, Greta fell through the roof, the debris falling around her.

Greta hit the rotten floor of the attic with a painful thud and instantly smashed through the mouldering wood. Hitting a support beam on the way down, she hit the next floor underneath and bounced before dropping down and snapping the wood and plaster again. Her fall was broken by a stair banister that stabbed painfully into her ribs before flipping her over and sending her down to the ground floor. Chunks of debris rained down around her, some of the larger pieces hitting her as they settled down on the ground.

'Greta!' she heard her team shout in various tones of shock and concern, their voices overlapping in her distracted mind as she registered the aches and pains.

Her teammates appeared around her, Peter arriving in the familiar flash of his semblance whilst Aurora and Rapture dropped down from above her. Their appearance heralded some more debris falling as they unsettled more of the damaged structure of the building.

'We need to get out of here,' Peter said quickly as he reached down and picked Greta up, putting one of her arms over his shoulder and wrapping one of his own arms around her waist to hold her up. Despite being disoriented Greta had enough awareness to grip Peter as he helped her move. It took a few steps for Greta to find her feet but soon she felt more sure of herself.

Shaking her head as the pain of her fall faded away, Greta pulled out her scroll and checked her Aura levels. She saw it was still in the green but the ribbon had taken a lot of damage and was on the verge of dropping into the yellow. Rubbing her face, she slipped away from Peter and rested on one of the walls as she tried to get her head back together.

She saw Rapture walk down the hallway into the room furthest to the back of the house. Still a little dazed, Greta stood in place and watched as her teammate looked around the room for something.

'Have you found a way out?' she heard Aurora ask.

'Give me a second,' Rapture replied. Greta then saw the faunus girl tighten her hands into fists and charge at the wall in front of her. There was a loud crunch and then Rapture rammed her way through the wall and out into the barren back garden of the house.

'This work?' Rapture asked as she peeked her head through the large hole she had made in the building.

No-one answered as they quickly ran through the hole. Greta saw Aurora lead the way, bringing Dark Majesty out again and using it to vault over the garden wall. Rapture leapt onto the top and then over. She was about to do the same when she felt Peter grab hold of her shoulder. An instant later the world folded in on itself and she found herself flashing from the garden to an alleyway where the rest of the team was waiting.

Greta wobbled and placed her hand on a wall next to her as the last traces of her dazed feeling from her fall was compounded by the disturbing sensations from Peter's teleport. She felt somewhat queasy as had to swallow hard as her gorge rose up in her throat.

'We've got to get moving,' Peter then said. 'They likely heard that.'

'Yeah,' Greta said, hiccuping a little as she spoke. She teetered forward a few steps and then began to unsteadily jog down the alley. 'Come on.'

The rest of the team followed after her at the same pace. They needed to move quickly and get away from the battle site before Team GOLD or their droids could catch up. Seeing the end of the alley way in the distance, Greta set off to find the way back out of the Old Residential District.

* * *

'So… we're lost,' Peter drawled as Greta looked about the street to see if she had turned herself around again.

'Could you, please just… not,' Greta said with a sigh. She had been checking streets for well over an hour now, the sun beginning to dip in the sky as they wandered around in an attempt to retrace their steps. Peter hadn't commented on the situation until this point but Greta had been expecting it for a while and had already stressed herself out over it.

"We should have found that temple again," Greta thought as she tried to find some kind of landmark. "Uhhh, I don't know any of this."

Getting frustrated, she looked up at one side of the street to see Aurora. She had sent the dark-skinned girl up to check out the area once again in the hope that she would find the temple's steeple as well.

'Anything?' she shouted up.

'I think I see it,' Aurora replied from above. 'We're several blocks away from it… in the other direction.'

Greta groaned at the reminder that she had gotten them lost and ran her hands down her face before straightening. She signalled for Aurora to come back down and waited for her teammate to rejoin them all on the street. It took a couple of seconds but Aurora landed, her arrival heralded by a rush of air that slowed her descent.

'Okay,' Greta said to the sniper. 'Lead the way.'

Aurora nodded, spun on her heel and began marching to an intersection several feet away that cut through several streets. She turned right and confidently walked ahead, the rest of the team following after her. After witnessing the battle between Team GOLD, the police droids and the Red Fang, as well as the collapse of their hiding place immediately after the fight was over, everyone was on edge. Greta and Aurora had their weapons out and Rapture's gauntlets were deployed. Only Peter was unarmed but he appeared wary and ready to pounce.

The walk through several of the streets was tense and seemed to stretch on forever. Aurora would pause on occasion and look around, as if she was reminding herself what direction she wanted to go and Greta worried that they had gotten lost again. Though the simple solution was to send someone up to scout from the roofs, the simple idea of losing their way was disheartening, especially as evening approached. It was still late afternoon according to their scrolls but the light had grown dim and the shadows were lengthening.

Greta looked up at the sky. She was unable to actually see the sun as it dipped low due to the houses blocking the horizon but the entire overcast sky was dark grey and getting darker. The colourful streaks of a sunset were also visible overhead but worryingly distant. It would soon be dark.

It was then that a crashing sound was heard nearby. Spooked, Greta span around to her left, the direction the noise had come from and found an alleyway across from her.

'C'mon,' a harsh voice snapped. 'This patch's locked down and the fuzz are movin in. Grab what the stuff and get movin'.'

Team GRAP watched as a large group of people – at least fifty – walked out of the alley. They were all men, most of them large and ranging in age from late teens to what could only be middle age. Their clothes were rough and rather dirty and they carried boxes in their arms. Most had machetes or cudgels at their hips but a couple of them had guns holstered as well. In the centre was the only well dressed member of the gang. He was wearing a cheap, dark suit, had his hair slicked back and had a pair of wide rimmed glasses on his face.

It took a second for the gang to notice the student team in front of them. For an instant, both groups stared at one another in surprise, like deer caught in headlights. Then, as reflexive responses reminded them that the people in front of them were threats, Team GRAP raised their weapons and trained them on the gang.

'Shit,' one of the gang members exclaimed. 'We've got Huntresses.'

'Are'ya blind you fuck'eads?' the leader snapped in response. 'They're fuckin' students. Take 'em down and then get movin' again.'

The entire group put down their boxes and drew their weapons. Before they could make a move, Aurora singled out the leader and fired a shot at him. The man ducked behind one of his followers though and threw him forward, the movement galvanizing the rest of the men to charge Team GRAP.

Rapture charged forward first and smashed a solid right hook into the face of one of the men. He fell to floor in a spray of blood, clutching his face and screaming as he curled up in pain. Rapture took a step back in shock at the amount of damage she had done to the man. She hadn't put more force than usual into her strikes but she had never drawn blood from her opponents before, let alone ruined another person's face like that.

'Oh gods, they don't have Aura,' Rapture said out loud. The other men in the gang were all hesitating, several of them looking at their colleague as he writhed in pain on the street floor.

'Hold back everyone,' Greta ordered. She then folded Firebrand out into its fire-pike form and spun on her heel. She slammed the haft of her weapon into one of the men close to her and dropped him as the blow knocked the air out of his lungs. 'We have to be careful.'

The rest of Team GRAP threw themselves into battle, Rapture folding Long Claw back into their bracelets whilst Aurora switched Dark Majesty to its glaive form. Peter drew his swords but his first strike was a flying kick as he leapt into the air and brought his foot down on one of the gangsters.

Greta span again, raising Firebrand over her head and swinging it into the side of another gang member who tried to block it with his machete. A gun went off and Greta felt a bullet hit her but her Aura absorbed the impact. Another man ran at her with a cudgel but she turned and kicked out at him, knocking him back. She followed her strike up with another blow from Firebrand that hit him over the head.

Aurora and Rapture were fighting together, a ring of gangsters having formed around them. The men were trying to find some angle to attack the pair of students but the two of them were constantly moving and covering each other's blind spots. Rapture blocked a cudgel swung by one man by crossing her arms and then pushing him back. She then ducked low and punched at his kidneys, forcing him to his knees. Aurora then swung Dark Majesty over her partner's head and hit another man that was coming at the girl's from Rapture's left. She kept the blade of her glaive away from the gangsters but would, on occasion, hit them with the flat to subdue them.

Peter, meanwhile, had teleported through the group to engage the leader. It seemed that he intended to cut the head from the group and finish the fight as quickly as possible. He flashed in front of the leader and swung his blades out only for the man to block Peter's Adagio with the body of his gun. Peter landed on the ground and took a surprised step back as the man took a combat stance, his gun trained on Peter and constantly adjusting aim.

"Wait," Greta thought as she took out another man charging at her with a blow to the temple from her left fist, "he's trained?"

Peter hopped back as the gang leader swiped at him and then fired a shot in the same movement. The leader then quickly followed up his attack by pressing a button on the back of the gun's handle and deployed a bayonet from the top of the handle. Grinning, he then advanced on Peter, slashing aggressively. Peter responded by teleporting out of the way of the man, appearing behind him and lashing out at his head with the flat of his Adagio. He hit the man but did little damage, the leader clearly having an active Aura as well.

Greta tried to run over to help her partner but one of the gangsters intervened, swinging his machete and forcing her to take a step back and raise Firebrand to block it. One of the men she had knocked down got back up and grabbed a cudgel before running at her again. Greta span around and lashed out at the cudgel wielding gangster with her fire-pike and then turned back to the first man, ramming the butt of Firebrand into his stomach and winding him. Quickly raising the end of her weapon, Greta then smashed the flat, heavy butt into the man's chin, knocking him on his back.

Aurora and Rapture were both still dealing with the majority of the gang. Most of their opponents were lying on the ground, moving slightly but showing no signs of getting back on their feet again. It seemed that Aurora had decided to neutralise any gangsters she and Rapture took down by kicking them hard in the head to either immobilise them or, at least, dissuade them from thinking about picking another fight.

Peter, meanwhile, was still fighting the gang leader. As usual, he ducked, wove and span around his opponent, occasionally flashing out of the way of the other man's strikes to hit him. The gang leader, however, was still holding his own with surprising skill though he looked a lot more haggard than he had before the fight had begun. The man swung wildly, trying to hit Peter as he danced around him, occasionally hopping in to hit the gang leader and then stepping out of reach.

Greta knocked out another gangster and then turned to go and support her partner. It was then, as she began to run over to the impromptu duel, that the gang leader managed to hit Peter on his arm as he leapt in to hit the man again. Overbalanced, Peter stepped forward to correct his stance, his usual focused but confident grin disappearing and that moment gave the gang leader the opportunity he needed. The older man lashed out with his pistol and struck Peter in the head. Crying out in shock and pain, Peter fell forward, just catching himself before he toppled over completely. Peter wasn't able to recover though as the gang leader hit him on the back of the head with the butt of his pistol and then kicked Peter over. Satisfied that he had beaten his opponent down, the gang leader then turned to survey the situation.

The man seemed to look like he was considering running away now that he was free from Peter's assault. Greta moved to intercept him before he could make move but he saw her coming and grabbed a nearby gangster. The gang member took the blow from Firebrand that Greta had aimed at his leader, allowing the other man to turn and take a few steps.

The leader backed away, the remaining members of his gang who could still move rallying around him. Greta stared at the gangsters in front of her. She wasn't intimidated by most of them and was quite sure she could defeat all of them alone but their leader, having actually managed to land hits on Peter, appeared much more daunting.

Rapture and Aurora joined her, taking up positions on her flanks and joining her in staring down the remains of the gang. The group of thugs had been cut down to half their original number and they looked thoroughly demoralised by their fight. Even their leader seemed frazzled despite not taking as much damage as his unprotected subordinates. The man looked like he was on the verge of immediately making a break for the alleyway he had come in from, the threat of Aurora singling him out with her sniper rifle and having fewer compunctions about shooting a man with an active Aura being the only thing keeping him amongst his men.

It was then that Peter got back to his feet. Greta looked back to see if he was alright and almost froze in shock. Peter had the most disturbing glare she had ever seen on his face. His lips were pulled back in a snarl that showed off his teeth and she could almost see the unsettling rage in his eyes. His hands began to tighten into fists, a pair of his short Piccolo stakes flashing into his grip before it balled completely. Greta almost felt transfixed by the sight of her furious partner but she eventually spared a glance at the gang and saw that those who were looking in Peter's direction seemed even more scared.

'Uh, Peter?' Greta hesitantly began. 'Are you alri...' before the could finish, Peter leapt forward with barely a sound.

Peter jumped into the air and then teleported, flashing in front of one man in the cluster of gangsters and slamming the butt of the Piccolo into the side of his temple. His victim dropped with barely a sound and before he even hit the floor, Peter was spinning on his heel and striking another one with his other stake, kicking out to hit another in the chest. All three men collapsed in an instant, leaving everyone stunned at the speed and sudden ferocity. In that time, Peter had already beaten another two men with his fists, the Piccolo's giving his punches greater strength and solidity. He flashed about the group, his limbs blurring even when he was visible and every time he moved a man crumpled over. Gangsters littered the floor, most of them moaning and several of them clutching injuries. Many even had blood streaming from broken noses and brutalised faces.

Peter leapt back and forth through what was once a tight formation of men. Now, it was loose, dispersed and falling apart as people tried to run for safety. Peter didn't let anyone go, teleporting over or in front of them and knocking them down with precise blows that carried a ferocious strength behind them. Soon only the leader, who had been the first to turn and run was left. He was approaching the alleyway he had arrived through only for Peter to flash in front of the passageway, standing perfectly straight and still, the snarl still on his face and a piercing glare in his eyes.

Barely a second passed beyond Peter cornering the man for him to then flash out of place again and appear in front of him. The gang leader tried to counter Peter but Greta swore she saw her partner's fist blur as he swung them at the man again and again. For several seconds Peter was a whirlwind, the gang leader barely seeming to move, except when he reeled away from one of Peter's blows, only to lunge in a different direction as Peter hit him again.

It only took several seconds for Peter to beat the man over and over again until there was a flare of colour that indicated the man's Aura finally giving way. Peter, however, didn't stop. He landed in front of the man, reversing the Piccolo in his right hand and then rammed the butt of the stake into the leader's face. There was a sickening crunch as the man's glasses snapped under the force of the blow and the shards were pushed back and embedded in his, now unprotected, eyes.

A blood-curdling scream of pain filled the street as the gang leader fell on his back, clutching his face. Greta could see blood coming from between his fingers as he writhed on the street. Peter stood over him, breathing heavily and grimacing down at him for several seconds. Then his breath slowed down and his face fell. He took a step back, looking shocked at what he had done and then turned to Greta and the team. Greta saw the look of surprise and confusion that was directed at her and realised she was returning the same expression to him as well.

'Peter,' Greta said, sounding unsure of herself. 'A… are, you… What, just...'

Greta trailed off as she realised she had no idea what to say. She turned to Aurora and Rapture to see that they looked just as shocked at what they had just seen. Both girls glanced a her for a moment but quickly turned back to Peter. Greta noticed they they looked scared of the boy.

'What?...' Peter tried to say as he looked down at the man who he had just blinded. 'I… Oh, gods.'

It was then that they remembered the gangsters lying around them. Greta saw one of them start to lift himself off of the floor and though the man looked too dazed and injured to do anything, she suddenly felt terrified about being near them.

'We need to go,' Greta said, jolting her teammates out of their shocked stupors. 'Now!'

Aurora and Rapture immediately turned and bolted for the other end of the street. Greta, meanwhile, noticed that Peter was still standing where he was, shocked and staring at the men around him that he had savaged. Moving without thinking, Greta ran up to her partner, grabbed his hand and began to drag him along. She didn't look back, grateful that it didn't long for Peter to find his feet and start running alongside her.

They found the temple again, Aurora picking a direction and leading them back. They had slowed down now but still walked quickly, desperate to get out of the district. The streets seemed to pass in a blur as Team GRAP searched for the police cordons. They were the sign that they had left the district and the things that they had seen and done there. Still, even as she tried to put the events of the day out of her mind, Greta couldn't forget her partner, the things he had just done and, above all, how terrified of him she still felt, even as he walked by her side.


	8. Chapter Eight: Consequences & Decisions

**Chapter** **Eight** **:** **Consequences And Decisions** **:**

 **November** **3** **rd** **1462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

Greta felt exhausted as she and her team stumbled back into their dorm room. It was late and they had only just made curfew when they disembarked from the evening service Bullhead. Every one looked shaken, Greta felt stiff and beaten from her fall several hours ago and Peter had spent the entire journey with the most intense expression that she had ever seen on his face. Everyone seemed to have avoided making eye-contact with him on the way and even now Greta was uncomfortable looking at him.

They entered their dorm room and threw their things on the floor. Greta threw herself down on her bed, shut her eyes as she tried to shake off the bizarre fatigue she felt and then gave up and sat up straight. No-one dared look at one another or say a word. Peter sat down on his own bed and put his head in his hands whilst Aurora took a seat at the desk. Rapture meanwhile was leaning on the door frame. Greta could see that the other girls were eyeing Peter, Aurora occasionally glancing his way whilst Rapture glared at him, an inscrutable look on her face as she regarded him.

'I'm going to the bathroom,' Peter suddenly said after a sigh, almost startling Greta.

'Peter,' Greta said hesitantly as her partner got up and strode over to the en-suite bathroom. 'Wai...'

He walked in and slammed the door before she could finish. Greta put her head in her hands and groaned as she heard the sound of the shower being turned on.

'What the hells was that about?' she mumbled to herself as she once again recalled Peter's brutal assault on the gang and the blinding of their leader.

She looked to her teammates for some kind of help but all she saw were similar looks of confusion. Aurora had already picked up a book and had buried her face into it but seemed to have that strange hunched posture that Greta now knew indicated that she wasn't really paying attention to what she was reading. Rapture was looking at the floor, frowning. On occasion she would hold one of her hands in front of her, clench it into a fist and then open it again. Every time she balled her hands her frown would turn into a look of worry that would quickly recover its sullenness after she relaxed.

Greta sat in the silent room, the tense atmosphere making everything seem awkward and unsettling. No-one dared say anything, the only real noise the creak of the bed as Greta occasionally adjusted her position and the sound of paper rustling as Aurora turned a page of the book she wasn't really reading.

"Okay," Greta thought, trying to silently distract herself, "so… Peter… he, snapped. I guess."

No, he..." she hastily tried to amend, "he… well, he just… Oh gods, what was that back there. He just went fucking nuts."

Greta had seen Peter sullen before, especially over the past few days. She had also seen him frustrated and snappish but this was the first time she could say she had ever seen him lose control and be genuinely angry, and it was terrifying. Her partner, who she could honestly say was usually a rather composed and careful person, had turned into a monster, a whirlwind of savagery and rage. The worst part about his rampage and subsequent brutalising of the gang had been the fact that he hadn't lost control of his movements. His blows, strikes and manoeuvres had been more intense and powerful than he usually made them but they were about as precise and deliberate as he normally made them. His rage had been controlled and directed, specifically at the gang leader he had beaten and blinded.

Greta had honestly felt scared after witnessing that fight. At first she had been distracted by her fear of remaining in the decrepit, criminal district but as time went by and they got further and further away from Vale's north-east, she had found she wasn't calming down. The trip back in the Bullhead had been especially uncomfortable as she had subconsciously avoided looking at her partner. Aurora and Rapture had also elected to sit as far from him as they could, the same unsettled looks on their faces.

That disturbed feeling in the back of her head was still there, even now. Greta hadn't been upset by the fight, or the blood. Combat was most definitely not unfamiliar for her and she had seen plenty of blood growing up. She wasn't completely numb to seeing injuries but she certainly didn't let it affect her that often. It had been the fact that Peter had done it so easily. what's more he had done it deliberately. There was enough time after the gang leader's Aura give out for Peter to notice, especially since he paused for a moment to reverse the grip on his weapon but he had still delivered the crippling blow nonetheless. Peter had to have known he was going to horribly injure a vulnerable man.

Greta continued to stew in her thoughts as she tried to process what had happened to Peter and what he had done. She was so deep in her own internal ruminations that his return from the bathroom, wrapped in one of the plain dressing-gowns the school supplied actually startled her. Greta let out a surprised shout when he walked into the room, entering her field of vision and jolting her from what she had been thinking about.

'Are you alright?' Peter asked. He looked concerned but Greta could see that the feelings weren't actually reflected in his eyes which looked rather dull and distracted.

'I'm fine,' she reassured him. 'Just surprised.'

'Oh,' Peter said as he went to get more clothes from his wardrobe. 'Sorry then.'

Greta didn't dare say anything else as she saw Peter pick up a change of clothes and return to the bathroom to get changed. She saw that, aside from the brief look of false concern, he seemed to have the same enigmatic frown on his face. Though she had little idea of what his expression actually meant, Greta was sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he was also thinking about the events earlier in the day and seemed to be just as unsettled as she was.

Greta threw her head back, hitting it lightly against the headboard of her bed and welcoming the jolt to her brain. She didn't draw attention from the others, knowing that they too were trying to wrap their heads around what they had seen, what it had made them feel and how they were supposed to deal with it. Peter Hamlin, their teammate, a boy who lived in a room with them, went to classes with them and was currently only separated from all three of them by one door, had lost his mind. What were they supposed to do with him now that they were back home?

Greta had no idea what to do but felt like she had to do something. She wasn't sure if she felt explicitly unsafe around her partner but she was also afraid of what might happen if he snapped again. Rubbing her face, Greta watched as her partner once again emerged from the bathroom and went over to his bed. Averting her eyes, Greta sat back, stared at the ceiling of the room and tried, desperately, to think of some way to talk to her Peter about what he had done.

* * *

 **November** **4** **th** **1462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

Beacon Academy had started the day like any regular Saturday. Students were either sleeping in or had gotten up early to take the early flights down into the Vale megacity. Others were just enjoying the day and spending some time with other activities on campus. Some were even getting in some extra training for the Vytal Festival Tournament. That all changed, when a small flotilla of military vessels appeared on the horizon.

Starting as a series of innocuous dots on the edge of their vision, the students and staff of Beacon had initially ignored the encroaching fleet, losing amongst the rest of the air traffic. It was only as the ships approached and their shape became more apparent that people began to take notice. Soon the somewhat familiar, elongated wedge shape of an Atlesian Hringhorni aerial battleship with its long prow, stern and dorsal spines and side mounted auxiliary compartments, became more visible. At its side were two smaller Interceptor cruisers, their similar wedge design also giving away their Atlesian origins. The escorting ships were only distinguished from the larger flagship by their smaller size and smaller number of spines. As it became more obvious what these ships were and where they were going, questions were asked and concern, if not outright fear, spread across campus.

Further questions were raised when people began to notice that the ships, whilst being of Atlesian design, were also more than twenty years out of date. No Atlesian visitor would dare show up in Vale in anything less than their latest class of warship. Any illusions that the fleet was actually Atlesian was dispelled when someone spread the news that the ships were not flying Atlas' colours but instead displayed the three winged swords of Vacuo. The new information did not assuage peoples' concerns, however. If anything, they were exacerbated.

Alayne Siog stood on the central landing platform of Beacon's aerial dock, watching the fleet approach with the most passive expression she could muster. She was rather annoyed with the abruptness of the Vacuite dignitaries but didn't dare let that be obvious to anyone who would see her face.

Whilst she wasn't a fan of the Vacuites, especially after their recent political developments, most of her annoyance was due to their decision to visit on a Saturday. Alayne was a woman who, whilst very flexible and outgoing, enjoyed a few small routines, especially on the weekend. Normally she would sleep in a little and then take the first few hours of the morning to relax, collect herself and then plan how she would deal with whatever workload she hadn't been able to take care of in the rest of the week. Today, however, she had been called out of bed earlier than usual and asked to receive the Vacuite delegation who were visiting to help handle the organisation of the Vytal Festival.

Professor Arc had been nice enough to say that he was asking her to do the job and had spoken in a polite, almost apologetic manner but Alayne was aware that it hadn't been a request. She dressed herself in her best and most convincingly official clothes, a business suit that had been customized slightly so that they were her favourite shade of blue with little green highlights. Her hair was tied back and she had been keeping the same polite, inviting but not too unassuming or foolish smile on her face, ready to properly receive the Vacuites.

The fleet parked itself in front of the airdocks, hovering intimidatingly overhead. Alayne stared up at the massive battleships that looked like they were glowering at her as the vast prow cast a shadow over the docks and the main avenue to the school.

Alayne didn't dare move as the ship hovered in place. The prow looked like a blade that was aimed at the school, a surprisingly aggressive stance for a peaceful visit from one of Vale's allies. Despite the recent issues in Vacuo and the poor public reaction to what they knew was going on in the kingdom, there was no bad blood between Vale and Vacuo. To Alayne, this entire display seemed to be unnecessarily hostile in appearance.

A smaller transport gunship, shaped somewhat like a predatory bird, then detached itself from the rear of the battleship and began to carefully fly down to the docks. Alayne didn't dare turn away from the approaching vessel but knew, even without looking, that the ships had attracted an audience. Taking a deep breath, she prepared to meet the important, Vacuite delegation. The ship turned around, the rear facing her and descended onto the landing pad. The moment it touched down, a boarding ramp extended out and the loading doors opened with a pneumatic hiss.

A figure stood in the centre of the doorway that had now opened completely. Alayne swallowed hard and reaffirmed the smile on her face as the man she knew was Nox Skye, Headmaster of Shade Academy and Patriarch of Vacuo, stepped forward.

Nox Skye was a tall and imposing man. The thick, plate armour he wore was heavy and black as coal, a large dark cape and a fully enclosing helmet with a stark, white skull painted on the front painted on the face-plate completing the altogether ghastly image. His very presence seemed to exude a dour intimidation that Alayne tried not to balk at. Attached to his side, was a long katana held in a reinforced sheath that had been slightly redesigned to incorporate a steel version of Vacuite sword-script.

The two guards behind him were clad in comparatively outdated Atlesian military gear, though their helmets had been modified to be full-face. Like their leader, the helmet's were designed to somewhat resemble a skull, the white armour accentuated by blue and a symbol of a clenched fist imprinted on the pectoral portion of the cuirass.

Behind those two armoured men were a pair of teenagers, a boy and a girl. Alayne wasn't the best at gauging people's ages but she was sure that the two children in front of her were older years in their school, the somewhat more tempered air around them indicating at least some experience of higher Huntsman and Huntress training. The girl was of average height and had mousey brown hair that she had pinned back in a ponytail. She wore drab brown trousers and a loose and breezy shirt over the top with some kind of brand logo affixed to the left-hand side of the chest. A folded cylinder was at her side and she had a somewhat stern and surprisingly authoritative expression on her face.

The boy next to her was the same sight and dressed in similarly simple attire. His clothes, both the trousers and the slim tunic he wore were all black, the same shade of dark coal that Patriarch Skye favoured. The cloak wrapped around his shoulders, however, was a dusty brown colour instead. His hair was a sandy brown and trimmed into a restrained bob and the expression on his face was measured and neutral.

'Hello, Headmaster Skye,' Alayne began as the patriarch strode down the ramp of his ship and onto the docks. She tried to ignore the intimidating aura his armour and mask gave off as she addressed him. 'I am Professor Alayne Siog. Professor Arc sent me to greet you and provide any assistance you might need. Beacon Academy is honoured to receive such an illustrious...'

'You may dispense with the pleasantries Professor Siog,' Skye interrupted, the mask distorting his voice into a deep and imposing tone. 'I am here to speak with Headmaster Arc concerning the festival, nothing more. You will conduct me to his office at once.'

'O… of course, Headmaster Skye,' Alayne said, motioning for him to follow her. 'This way please. I'm, uh, afraid that your guards will have to remain with your ship.'

Skye said nothing but motioned to his guards. The two armoured men straightened to attention and then took a step back to the bottom of the ramp.

'My children will be accompanying me into Beacon itself for the duration of my time here,' Skye the said as he turned back to regard Alayne. 'I trust that suitable accommodation can be found.'

'We should have spare dormitories,' Alayne replied, nodding quickly. Her eyes glanced at the two teenagers who were slouching in front of the guards, both of them looking a little sullen.

'Safe?' Skye then announced, jolting Alayne's attention back to him.

'Um, I'm sorry headmaster?' Alayne said.

'Are your facilities safe,' Skye asked, his tone indicating that he was not impressed. 'It is hardly a difficult question to understand, professor.'

"Well it certainly is when you don't even ask it," Alayne thought irritably. 'I… uh, yes, headmaster, as safe as can be found in Vale.'

Skye snorted, the mask making the noise sound like a deep snarl. 'In a country dealing with Red Fang bombings and rife with lax discipline. Yes, that certainly is reassuring.'

'Your children will be safe, sir,' Alayne said stiffly, fighting to keep any apparent indignation from showing in her voice or on her face.

'I hope so, Professor Siog, for your sake,' Skye replied. He then leaned forward, looming over Alayne. 'If anything happens to them… I will not be forgiving.'

Alayne shrank back a little as the full force of Nox Skye's gaze and masked countenance glared down at her. She was a Huntress and had been in scary situations but she had never been threatened so casually by a political figure before. The thought of being on the receiving end of such a disquieting politician's wrath was surprisingly disturbing.

'Nox,' a voice then called from nearby. Alayne and Skye both turned to see Professors Arc and Smith casually approaching the landing pad. 'I managed to get ahead of my workload for today and was able to come up and get you myself.'

'Alayne,' Professor Arc then said, turning to her. 'Thanks for taking on this job for me. I can deal with it from here now. Nox,' he then carried on, turning to Headmaster Skye, 'its good to see you.'

'Headmaster Arc, Professor Smith,' Skye greeted curtly. 'I trust we may proceed.'

'Of course,' Professor Arc replied, motioning towards the school. 'This way, please.'

'Professor Siog,' Professor Smith said, speaking for the first time. 'please see to our guest's children. See that they're well taken care of.'

Professor Smith motioned to the children and the turned to join the two headmasters as they walked towards Beacon. Alayne was surprised at how stiff the deputy headmaster looked. He was rather curt and professional at the best of times but he looked completely agitated this time. It was usually not a good sign about the kinds of company they were dealing with.

"Gods save me, what will these two be like?" Alayne thought despairingly as she turned to the two teenagers. She was normally rather excited about meeting new people, especially students who were in her care but the short and frightening meeting with their father had been rather taxing for her.

The two teenagers stood still, both of them looking idly around. Alayne noticed that they were usually focused on the direction their father was as he followed Professor Arc. The moment they were out of sight and the crowds of students had returned, they relaxed, the girl letting out a sigh of relief.

'Thank the gods for that,' the girl said brashly, grimacing slightly. 'He is _so_ overbearing sometimes.'

'Elena,' the boy admonished quietly. He then looked at Alayne apologetically. 'Apologies for our father, Professor. He can be somewhat… uncompromising. He's military, though, so I guess it comes with the territory.'

'That or he's a jerk for shits and gigs,' the girl – Elena – muttered under her breath. The boy gave her a mild glare and she snorted in turn, a smirk on her face. 'Anyway, is there anywhere to get something good to eat? Military rations are terrible.'

'Yeah, I'll agree to that,' the boy added, now smiling more easily.

Alayne blinked, trying to wrap her head around how normal the two seemed, compared to the unreal presence of Nox Skye. Smiling again, she cleared her head and returned her thoughts to doing what she did best, managing students.

'The cafeteria should be serving the last of breakfast,' she said in her usual cheery tone. 'We normally have weekend specials for all three meals so there should be plenty of more, appealing, food for you.'

'Excellent,' the boy said with an open smile. 'I'm Edmund Skye, this is my twin sister Elena. It's a pleasure to meet a professor from Beacon.'

'Stop flirting Ed,' Elena drawled, smirking at her brother. Compared to their father these two were much better company.

'If you wouldn't mind following me,' she said, motioning for them to follow her. She then headed in the direction of the cafeteria, the two teenagers walking behind her.

* * *

Nox Skye entered Professor Arc's office with an almost imperceptible snort of derision. His mask managed to amplify the noise, making it sound like the man was harshly spitting at the room he had just stepped into. Jaune was sure he could see some kind of contempt piercing through the cover of his mask.

"The skull definitely doesn't help," he mused as he watched Nox step into the centre of the room. His dark armour and altogether grim presence made him stand out amongst the clear, transparent walls, floor and ceiling.

'Not to your liking, Nox?' Jaune asked easily, smiling as he went over to his desk and poured a cup of coffee from the pot he had placed there before he left.

'It's a civilian's office,' Nox replied shortly. 'I was always a soldier, first. Taking over Shade was not exactly in my life plan.'

'But you did it anyway,' Professor John Smith said, walking in from behind Nox and taking his place to the side of Jaune's desk. 'And you took control of Vacuo's governing council as well, if the news is accurate.'

Nox said nothing but the temperature of the room seemed to drop slightly. Jaune was sure he saw the armoured man's fists clench. The entire conversation, from the very beginning, had been antagonistic and things were only just getting worse.

'Take that mask off Nox,' Jaune said, waving his hand. 'We're all friends here.'

'Are we?' Nox shot back, dryly. There was a moment of silence and then, slowly, Nox lifted his gloved hands to seals on the bottom of his helmet and pressed them. A moment later, the hard-lined face of Nox Skye became visible, cold, piercing eyes staring out at the Professors from beneath a mop of greying hair.

'That's better,' Jaune continued, keeping his smile on his face. He then offered the pot forward. 'Coffee?'

Skye shook his head, his eyes were bloodshot, the irises stained yellow. Smith scrutinised them as Nox brushed his hair out of his face and into a more tidy place.

'You seeing a doctor for that?' John asked.

'I've been busy,' Nox replied derisively, snorting for good measure. 'It fades after a few days if I don't use my semblance.'

'So things are still bad in Vacuo,' Jaune said quietly, giving Skye a questioning glance. He didn't expect a specific answer. The words were more of a statement rather than an actual question.

'Worse than the news reports,' Nox said, nodding tiredly, 'or it was. The isolationists were definitely being backed by the Society, not that they really knew it. Governor Paxman was working with them too, before he was… dealt with.'

'I don't see why _you_ had to take his position,' John interjected. 'In addition to your roles as head of the army and Headmaster of Shade you now ha...'

'I maintained order, security, justice and peace in the wake of national disaster,' Nox replied thunderously, an ugly scowl growing on his face. 'Good men and women died to bring that about and I was not going to let anarchy reassert itself its hold just to please the sensibilities of… others.'

'So you made a tyranny,' John retorted. The older man hadn't raised his voice but there was a cold fury in his tone and an almost contemptuous expression on his face.

'I did what needed to be done,' Skye growled. 'I thought _you_ , of _all_ people, would have understood that sometimes, things that we consider unsavoury must still be done.'

'Why you...' John snarled, his eyes widening and his nostrils flaring.

'Gentlemen,' Jaune interrupted, scowling at both of them. 'We're all on the same side here. Nox's actions have denied our enemies a crucial breeding ground, which we should all be thankful for, and in keeping order and keeping news of their activities on the down low, he's made the Vytal Festival viable, still.'

'Which maintains the illusion of peace,' Nox continued for him, 'and will hopefully lure our enemies out into the open – where we will crush them once and for all.'

Jaune and John shared a glance after Nox's declaration. The man clearly didn't have all of the information about the bigger picture if he was this sure of his impending victory.

'Well he's confident,' Jaune said to his colleague with a grin.

'Of course I'm confident,' Nox sneered. 'We are in possession of the advantage in these affairs.'

'You sound so sure,' John said, folding his arms. 'However, we still know far too little about our enemies' leaders, their plans, what agents they have and where...'

'You're right,' Jaune interrupted again, holding up a hand to calm them, 'both of you. We still have a lot of gaps to fill – but for the moment things are working in our favour. Let's not lose sight of that.'

'Very well,' Nox finally said after another tense silence. He still a scowl on his face but he seemed more relaxed. He reached into the folds of his cape and pulled out his scroll. 'Now is as good a time as any to actually get down to the business I'm here for.'

'I have all of the official files to confirm that the Vytal Festival will be taking place and that Vacuo and Shade Academy will be hosting it,' Nox recited. It was clear that he had repeated the speech before. 'There is also the matter of other kingdom's membership in the Vytal Festival Tournament. Atlas and Haven have already taken care of their participation so Beacon's the only one left.'

Nox stared down at both of them with a dry expression. 'I assume you will be taking part.'

'You could at least try to sound enthusiastic,' John put in.

Nox scowled. 'This isn't exactly where I prefer to be. There are enemies to deal with in Vacuo.'

'And yet you remain headmaster,' John said derisively, leaning back. 'You could always resign and go back to killing people.'

Nox's brow furrowed further, 'When someone competent emerges – and I have a candidate in mind, in a few years – I may.'

Jaune held up a hand, silencing the two men. 'Beacon will be honoured to attend the festival, Professor Skye.'

'Patriarch,' Nox said shortly. 'That remains my first rank of importance.'

'Of course, Patriarch,' Jaune replied, hoping that things could remain peaceful. 'We'll sort out the formal paperwork later. For now, Beacon is yours to rest in.'

'I prefer my ship,' Nox interrupted, turning. 'Although I understand there are Red Fang terrorists at work?'

'Nox,' Jaune said, a slight warning tone brewing. 'Please don't get involved. It might cause an… incident.'

Nox turned, and for the first time gave a real smile – a young man's smile. 'If I involve myself Jaune,' he said, his voice sounding sinister, 'it will be more than an incident.' With that, he faced the elevator again and walked out of the room.

* * *

It had been a very tense day for Greta. She had slept poorly the night before thanks to what had happened yesterday and the following morning had been difficult as she and the girls were still wary of Peter. The arrival of an armed Vacuite fleet over the school had just made things worse as the entire school suddenly became agitated. Peter had slipped away early but now that just left the issue of what was happening to their team.

"I thought I'd just dealt with Rapture and now this," she lamented. "Gods, why do you hate me?"

She had been sitting in the seats around the training grounds for an hour now, several snack foods, including a lot of wrappers for gingerbread treats scattered around her, most of which had been eaten. There were plenty of times in the past where she had resorted to comfort food but she hadn't felt the need to eat so much of it in a long time now.

Sighing, she picked up the rubbish around her and got up from the benches. She glanced down at the busy training facilities in the centre of the massive coliseum. Everything was in use, more than she had ever seen them before. With the semester drawing to a close and the Vytal Festival coming up, the entire school was trying to get as much training as they could in preparation for either the tournament or their exams. People were running back and forth as they tried to grab whatever was still available, long queues already extending from the vital facilities like the combat rings and firing ranges.

Greta hadn't really been that bothered about using the training grounds. She was walking to one of the aisles that separated the bench rows and led to the exit when a voice called out to her.

'Greta,' the familiar voice of Tom shouted over the noise of the students training below. 'There you are. Wait up'

'Huh?' Greta grunted as she turned to see the short leader of Team TEAL jog over to her from the aisle across from her. 'Oh, hi, Tom.'

'I've been looking for you,' Tom said as he ran up to her. 'I, uh, I wanted to ask if your team's alright.'

'What?' Greta dead-panned.

'Well we haven't heard anything from you since Wednesday,' Tom replied. 'You locked yourselves in your room and then you disappeared yesterday. Me and Lach were just a bit, well, worried.' He then looked aside for a moment. 'Even Adelheid and Elizabeth started asking about you.'

'Well...' Greta paused and tried to think. "Should I tell him? Would it really be a good idea?'

'We, uh, we've had a bit of a problem,' Greta finally admitted, slumping forward in resignation as she did so. 'A… big, problem.'

'Do you, want to talk about it?' Tom asked.

'Sure,' Greta replied. 'Just not here.'

'Fine,' Tom said in response. 'We can go wherever you're comfortable with. We're not exactly spoiled for choice today though.'

* * *

Greta had decided to go back to her dorm. She didn't know if anyone was in there but she did ask Tom to get his team together if he could. If she was going to tell Tom what they did then it was probably right that she tell the rest of TEAL anyway. Tom would probably tell them even if she didn't anyway and it would make things easier to give them all the same story.

'Tom,' she said, making up her mind. 'Do you mind calling your team. I need to talk to them as well.'

'Oh, uh, sure,' Tom replied. He then too out his scroll and typed into it, sending off texts to all of his teammates. They stood in the hallway for a bout a minute before Tom's scroll beeped.

'Lach and Elizabeth are on their way,' Tom said as he read the messages on his scroll. 'Adelheid says she's too busy though.'

'Fine,' Greta sighed as she opened the door to her room. 'I guess you can tell her later.'

'It's really this important isn't it,' Tom asked with a look of concern.

Greta paused in the slightly opened doorway with a forlorn expression on her face as she reflected on what had happened and what it meant now that she was going to involve Team TEAL. She then sighed again and walked into her room. Aurora was already in there, sitting on her bed with her scroll open in her hands. Greta looked around and saw that no-one else was in the room though Rapture's scroll was on her bed.

'Aurora,' Greta greeted the other girl. 'Do you know where Peter and Rapture are?'

'Rapture's in the bathroom,' Aurora replied, inclining her head in the direction of the suite attached to their room. 'I haven't heard anything from Peter I'm afraid.'

The sound of a toilet flushing indicated that Rapture was finished in the bathroom. The faunus girl walked out a minute later, adjusting the belt on her shorts before she noticed that Greta was now in the room.

'Oh, you're back,' Rapture said. She then noticed Tom standing behind Greta. 'Hi, Tom. What're you doing here?'

'Greta wanted to talk,' Tom replied. Greta turned to look at him and noticed he had an uncomfortable expression. Greta guessed that he was noticing the tense atmosphere that had been apparent in the room since the previous night.

'About what?' Rapture asked in a gruff tone that managed to convey a sense of worry. Greta saw her teammate turn to fix her with a questioning look as she spoke, her voice heavy with suspicion.

'I… don't know,' Tom hesitantly said in response as he tried to figure out what kind of unspoken question the two girls were having with one another.

'We're telling them about the stuff that happened yesterday,' Greta announced with as much confidence as she could muster. She still didn't feel entirely sure about her decision but she had made it and it was now far too late to back out.

'Seriously?' Rapture drawled sceptically.

'Yeah,' Greta replied in a flat, matter of fact tone, once again trying to sound decisive despite herself. 'They've already noticed us acting funny anyway so why not?'

'Do you really think they want to get involved with the investigation?' Aurora asked, getting up off her bed.

'Investigation?' Tom cut in, reminding everyone that he was also in the room with them. 'Is that what you've all been doing?'

'Wait until the others are here,' Greta said in response. 'It'll be easier to tell you all at once.'

Tom frowned at the dismissal but nodded. He then went over to the desk in their room and took a seat in the chair in front of it. Greta and Rapture went over to their beds and sat on them as well as the waited for the others to arrive. Unsurprisingly, Lach was the first to make it.

'Hiyya,' he greeted. He looked cheerful but Greta could see the brief look of concern he shot Tom. 'So what's goin' on?'

'We've got something to tell you,' Greta replied. 'We just need Elizabeth here now.'

Together, the group waited until finally, there was a knock at the door. Greta opened the door to see Elizabeth standing behind it, a quizzical look on her face. Her arms were folded and her stance exuded annoyance but her expression told everyone that she was more curious about why they had called her than her body language was willing to admit.

'Great, you're here,' Greta said with a fair amount of sincerity as she let the other girl in.

'So what is this all about?' Elizabeth asked as she strutted into the room, looked around and then went over to Peter's empty bed to sit on it.

'Well,' Greta began as she took her seat on her bed again, 'now that you're all here I guess I should get started.'

She looked to Rapture and Aurora and received committal nods from both of them, she had their support in this. Clearing her throat, Greta worked up as much of her nerve as she could and began her story.

The members of Team TEAL sat in expectant silence as she began by explaining the reason behind their disappearance the other day, going all the way back to the Red Fang bombing in the mall and telling them about when she had first seen Olivia Van Rot of Team GOLD. A long tangent explaining who Teams GOLD and SWRZ from Atlas were and why they were relevant followed after that. Greta's story slowly unfolded and as it did, Team TEAL began to look more and more unsettled as they figured out just what had been going on.

It was when the subject of their trip into the Old Residential District of Vale came up that the atmosphere changed. Suddenly the questioning looks Greta got from Team TEAL were less concerned for her and her team and more shocked about what they had done the other day.

'What were you thinking!?' Tom finally shouted as Greta described almost getting blown off a roof by a stray rocket from an Atlesian war machine.

'Um?...' Greta floundered as she tried to answer the boy. She had never heard him raise his voice before and the anger in it had surprised her even more. He was currently glaring at from his seat and despite the fact that he was so small, the rage and hurt in his eyes made her feel incredibly guilty.

'That's not even the worst of it,' Rapture interjected, also looking ashamed. Everyone in the room turned their attention to the faunus girl as she began to pick up the story.

Rapture quickly took up the job of describing their flight from Team GOLD after they had engaged in battle with the Red Fang. It was when she began recounting the fight with the other gang that she began to slow down. A look of awkward hesitance was stuck on her face as she tried to delicately tell their friends of what Peter had done to end the fight. When she finally reached the point in the story where Peter ruined the gang leader's eyes that Team TEAL interrupted again.

'That's what you've been doin,?' Lach asked, a look on his face that could be described as disappointment. His face had shown several different expressions over the course of the story and it seemed he had moved past curiosity and shock a while ago. 'You decided ta chase down another team ta find out where the Red Fang were so ya could fight 'em?'

Once again, Greta felt as if her body was being pierced by the brutally honest summary of what they had been doing. She didn't know if Lach was accusing of her of anything but his words and his tone once again reminded her of how bad an idea the whole thing had been.

'Listen,' Greta almost shouted. 'I get it, it was a bad idea. It was stupid and we shouldn't have gone in there.'

'We're not accusing you,' Tom said in a placating voice. 'We're just surprised, I mean… why would you do this?'

'I… we, just,' Greta tried to find some way to answer the question. The whole thing had been going on for so long now and she wasn't willing to tell them that she had just been hoping they would get over the whole thing.

'It's my fault,' Rapture finally admitted. The faunus girl was now looking at her feet ashamedly. 'I kept pushing everyone to investigate them. Ever since the mall I was trying to do something to get at the Red Fang. I didn't even know why at first and then when I did figure out my feelings, it just made me push harder.'

'Now,' Rapture continue as she put her head in her hands, her voice breaking slightly. 'Now it's all just gone… gone… I don't know. We almost got caught up in a war and Peter just… snapped. I saw a man get crippled by Peter. I broke a man's face and could've killed him, actually killed him. I've never...'

'Rapture!' Tom shouted to snap her out of her rant. 'It's alright.'

Greta watched as the small boy got up off from his seat and went over to Rapture to sit down on the bed with her. She and everyone else in the room was shocked by what they had just seen. Whilst Rapture wasn't constantly stoic and had opened up to them about some surprising vulnerabilities, no-one had seen the faunus girl break down like that.

'Rapture,' Aurora said comfortingly as she also got up from her bed and sat down next to her partner. She hesitantly reached out a hand and then placed it on Rapture's shoulder 'Listen, it's not your fault. We knew what we were getting into and we all should have been more careful.'

'Peter was the one who kept trying to get us out of there,' Rapture shot back, straightening again and glaring at the room in general. 'He was the only one who told us that this was a bad idea and he's the one who got hurt.'

"I think falling through a house counts as "getting hurt"," Greta thought sardonically before crushing the stray thought.

'Rapture,' Aurora continued despite the outburst. 'We couldn't have known what would happen. It's not your fault. We do need to find Peter though.'

An awkward feeling suddenly swept over Greta as Aurora proclaimed what their next move should be. She could see Rapture and Aurora probably felt the same as they seemed to shift uncomfortably. It seemed that they were all still a little disturbed by Peter's behaviour yesterday and sitting on it hadn't helped.

'Alright then,' Tom said as he stood up. 'Count us in.'

Greta was, admittedly, somewhat surprised at Tom's announcement. She had hoped he would support her but hadn't expected him to suddenly decide to do so by himself. Looking at Rapture, she saw a similar look of surprise on the girl's face. Aurora, on the other hand, appeared stoically accepting and simply nodded in response to Tom's words and the look she saw Greta giving her.

'Huh, I guess it looks like we're in,' Lach said in a straight forward tone.

'I only have one question,' Elizabeth suddenly asked, speaking for the first time since she had walked in. Greta gave the girl a nod in response.

'Are you still going to be looking for the Red Fang,' the red-head asked, looking seriously at the others.

'Well...' Greta paused, unsure of how to answer that. 'I don't really know.'

'I'm not giving up,' Aurora suddenly announced, receiving incredulous looks from her teammates. 'I don't feel comfortable backing away from something as big as this, especially after committing myself like that.'

Greta and Rapture looked at each other desperately as they both tried to think of something, anything, to say. They weren't sure about whether or not they were actually going to continue their investigation, especially after what had happened the day before but Aurora had just put them in a difficult situation. They both eventually nodded, first to each other and then, non-committally, to Elizabeth.

'Well that's good enough for me,' Elizabeth finally said, flashing her – now uncomfortably familiar – maniacal smile, folding her arms and crossing her legs. 'I'm in.'

* * *

Peter Hamlin sat back in his seat in the library, his mouth a thin line of uncomfortable contemplation. As he once again recalled his actions the other day, he flopped forward, banging his elbows on the table in front of him and threw his head into his hands with a quiet groan. He ignored the startled looks he got from people nearby as his arms colliding with the wood of the table surface elicited a loud, sharp bang.

'Are you alright?' the careful, elegant voice of Adelheid Schnee asked him.

Peter took his head out of his hands and turned in his seat to see the Schnee heiress standing behind him. She was dressed in her silvery white combat outfit and even had several books in her hands but the look on her face was unusual. She wore an expression of total and obvious concern and entire demeanour was cautious and hesitant.

'Oh,' Peter replied as he tried think of a reply. 'I'm fine, thanks.'

'Well clearly you're not,' Adelheid responded, her familiar imperious tone returning as she took a seat beside him and placed her books on the table. 'I've actually been looking for you.'

'You have?' Peter asked, tiredly.

'Yes,' Adelheid answered. 'Myself and my team have noticed that your team have been acting very strange, very exclusive since Wednesday. Your disappearance yesterday certainly didn't help ease our suspicions.'

'Is that so,' Peter replied, his expression matching his tired and frustrated mood. Adelheid frowned for a moment, looking carefully at Peter and then sighed.

'Peter,' she began, sounding a lot less secure. 'What's wrong. You can tell me, you know?'

Peter turned his head and fixed her with a look, his stare making her visibly uncomfortable. He hadn't bothered with his usual personal management this morning, barely washing his face and neglecting the little amount of make-up he barely admitted to using.

"Should I tell her?" he thought quickly. "She already knows about my family so it's not like it'll surprise her."

'Alright,' he said. 'But we shouldn't talk about it here. Follow me.'

With that he got up out of his seat and walked out of the library, Adelheid following after him. He strode out into the open grounds and headed in the direction of the woods off of the main campus. It was when he got to the edge of the woods that he finally stopped and turned to look at Adelheid.

'So you definitely want to know what happened the other day?' Peter asked, a bizarre feeling of trepidation washing over him. He looked as nervous as he felt, a fact that made Adelheid's concerned look return.

'Well, yes,' Adelheid prompted. 'Go ahead. Tell me what happened.'

Peter rubbed his face one last time as he built up his courage and got his thoughts in order and then he began. He started with the beginning of their investigation, briefly explaining the mall attack and Rapture's insistence that they should have done something back then. He then continued on, telling her about Teams GOLD and SWRZ and what little they could find about them and the discovery the other day that Team GOLD was up to something.

Adelheid's pose became somewhat more hostile and her brow raised over her frown as Pete than began to recount his team's trip into the Old Residential District, their witnessing of a battle between the police, led by Team GOLD and the Red Fang and then, finally, the fight with another gang on their way out.

'I engaged the leader of the gang,' Peter explained, swallowing hard as he did so. 'He was the only one with an Aura so I was putting more effort into defeating him than the others were.' He then paused as he tried to think of the best way to describe what was coming up.

'I… I got careless then,' he stuttered, surprising Adelheid. 'I overextended myself, I let him get past my guard and he hit. He managed to hit and once he had the first tsrike in it was so easy for him to take me down.'

'A criminal gang leader managed to beat you?' Adelheid asked, an incredulous look on her face. Peter couldn't blame her for her surprise. Until this point he had been practically untouchable in combat with his opponents having to give their all just to nick him when he was at his best.

'Yes,' Peter replied forlornly. He then leant back on a tree, his arms by his side. 'That wasn't it though. He had just stunned me for a bit with his blows. He hadn't even gotten close to actually breaking my Aura. He had gotten to me though.'

'I...' Peter's face fell as he recalled what he had done. 'I, well, I snapped. I got back up and I just felt so, so angry,' he raised his hands and put his head in them again as he vividly remembered the sight of the man's bloody face, glass shards embedded in it.

'I just kept hitting him,' Peter continued, ignoring Adelheid as she went from surprised to concerned and then genuinely scared for him. He knew she was taking a few tentative steps towards him, likely debating with herself how she was supposed to deal with him but he didn't want to stop, he needed to let someone know about what he had done.

'I hit him over and over until his Aura broke,' Peter said. 'But that wasn't it. The moment his Aura was gone I made one last strike. His glasses shattered and went into his face, his eyes. Adelheid,' he looked up at her, the look on his face now one of aimless despair, 'I've blinded a man.'

* * *

Adelheid Schnee hadn't been sure what exactly to expect when she finally came across Peter Hamlin in the library. No-one in her team had known why Team GRAP, the only team in their year that they were actually close friends with, had suddenly holed themselves up in their rooms after the Wednesday attack but she definitely hadn't been ready to hear the story Peter had just told her. Out of the entirety of the other team, the Hamlin heir was probably the member she knew the best, followed shortly afterwards by Aurora Basilikos, and so she had thought it best to go to him for an explanation.

Now she had just listened to one of the most surprising stories she had ever heard from anyone outside of her own family. Peter had recounted his team's almost criminal activities, their stalking of another team and their breaking into a quarantined section of the city. What was worse the way that Peter was reacting to his own story. He was clearly venting, desperate to tell someone who didn't already know what had happened about what he had done and how he felt about it. This was Peter Hamlin, raw and unpolished spilling a massive secret to her and it was clear to her that despite his confession, he wasn't finding the absolution he was looking for.

She knew how he currently felt, having ranted before when certain problems had been too much for her to cope with. Her mother and father were usually too busy to listen but Aunt Winter was surprisingly good at making time for her and Uncle Klein – as the lovely old man insisted she still call him – was even better at listening. The one time she had decided to open up to her sister Spring, however, had been a mistake. That had taught her an important lesson. If you were going to trust someone with your secrets, it was usually a good idea to make sure the other person was trustworthy.

"I won't be like mother," Adelheid thought as she saw Peter slowly continue to break down, "and I definitely won't be like Spring."

'P...' Adelheid was about to begin in an attempt to comfort him when he suddenly said something that shocked her completely. He looked up at her with a terrifyingly broken look on his face and admitted to blinding a man.

'Peter,' Adelheid, honestly surprised at what the boy had just told her. She had never thought that she would hear that, especially from the normally calm and collected Hamlin heir. 'I… Are you alright.'

'No,' Peter admitted, giving her a flat look that conveyed how bad he clearly felt. He then slid his back down the tree until he was sitting on the grass, breathing heavily as his hands lay down by his sides. 'No I'm not.'

'Peter,' Adelheid sighed again. She had no idea how to handle this properly now. Nothing she had learnt from her textbooks, her personal experience or her family had prepared her for something so intense.

She was now quite sure that she should either convince Peter to take this to a teacher or inform them herself for his own good. If she did do that, however, he would be facing criminal charges for violating a police quarantine and in the current political climate that would lead to horrible consequences. What's more, his transgressions would blow back onto the rest of Team GRAP, likely leading to the whole team's expulsion and the loss of the only real friends and only decent conversationalist she had in the school.

Carefully, she went over to the tree and eased herself down onto the grass next to Peter, resting her back on the trunk. A small part of her cringed at sitting on the bare ground but she knew that helping out one of her friends was currently more important than caring for an outfit she could easily pay to have cleaned.

'Peter,' she said once again. 'It's… It's not your fault. None of this is. You didn't decide to lead everyone into that district, you didn't go looking for a fight and you didn't try to get that gang to attack you.'

'But I knew exactly what I was doing when I fought them,' Peter interrupted. 'I wanted to hurt them. I wanted to beat that man down. Oh, gods,' he moaned, a sinking expression of despair back on his face, 'I wanted to make him pay for touching me. I just… I just wanted to make him suffer.'

'You lost control,' Adelheid countered, looking at him with a stern expression. 'You made a mistake.'

'A mistake,' Peter groaned with a disbelieving look. 'That, that wasn't a mistake. It was as much a mistake as my grandfather's purge.'

Adelheid cringed at the word. It wasn't a good idea to bring up any of the purges or other atrocities of the Witch War, especially in polite, Atlesian company. The Schnee's had a rather sordid personal history thanks to the actions and policies of her own grandfather but she had heard some of the things other powerful people had done and the Hamlins were one of the more infamous names on that list.

'You're not like that Peter,' Adelheid finally responded a calm tone. She leant her head on the tree and looked up at the branches above her. 'You're better than that and you know it.'

'Do I?' Peter asked.

'Of course you do,' Adelheid said incredulously. 'It's obvious that you feel bad about this don't you?' She waited until Peter nodded compliantly with a sigh. 'Then you are clearly a better person now than they were back then. You lost control once, you just have to find a way to not let that happen again.'

'It's never that easy,' Peter mumbled to himself.

'Oh now you're just whining,' Adelheid snapped, deciding to drop her attempt at being soothing. 'Is this really all it's going to take to make you give up? Is that all your self-worth amounts to? Is that all the Hamlin name amounts to now?'

'No,' Peter answered back, frowning. Adelheid let her lips quirk in small smile.

He looked insulted now which might be a good sign – possibly. She usually went through a cycle of depression, false anger and acceptance when she had these conversations with Aunt Winter and Uncle Klein and seeing Peter in the – so called – second stage meant he might get over it with a little more help.

'Then you just need to get better,' Adelheid said in a more confident tone, getting up off of the floor and brushing her skirt clean. 'You said this was all because you overextended yourself? That's definitely a sign that you've been getting sloppy. I would be happy to serve as a sparring partner for you in your next exercise. You clearly need an opponent on your level.'

'Thank you,' Peter replied with a polite nod of his head.

He still sounded a little unsure of himself and his smile was hesitant. Adelheid frowned a little. It was clear that he would need more work before he recovered. That was alright, though. She had gone through all of this so many times before and she realised it actually felt rather nice to help someone out through a problem she had experienced so many times before.

'Very well then,' Adelheid said, slipping back into her imperious stance and tone of voice. 'I'm afraid I can't help you at this moment though. Tom sent me a message shortly before I spotted you and I would like to see what the problem was.'

'Oh, that's alright,' Peter replied. 'I should go and see my team as well.'

The issue settled for the moment, Adelheid set off back to the dorms. Though she hadn't made a mess of herself by sitting on the grass she still wanted to check and see if she needed to change her dress. Peter walked beside her as he headed to the dormitory building as well. He still appeared unsettled but was a lot more calm and seemed to have a small, confident smile back on his face. It was, at the very least, a good sign.

* * *

Up in one of the trees near where the two students had been talking, Elena Skye sprawled on a thick branch. She had initially climbed up the tree to rest in a secluded area but the arrival of the two local students had caught her eye. The topic of their conversation, however, was what had ensured they had her undivided attention. She had listened intently as the boy told her about how he and his team had got involved in the crime war she had heard about, illegally no less.

It was when he recounted his crippling of a man and his subsequent public breakdown that she had started to feel bad about eavesdropping in on what was clearly a big deal but now that they were gone her interest in the team and their ad-hoc investigation returned with a vengeance. She had been hoping to find something interesting at the school, especially after how disappointing Atlas and Haven had been and it looked like she just might have found it.

'Maybe I'll finally get to have some fun,' she mused to herself out loud, smirking as she leapt down out of her tree and prepared to follow after the pair. She needed to find the boy's team and to do that, she needed to find their dorm.


	9. Chapter Nine: Getting On Our Feet

**Chapter** **Nine** **:** **Gettin** **g** **On Our Feet** **:**

 **November** **4** **th** **1462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

Greta didn't know how to feel about her day at the moment. She had been prepared to go with her friends in order to find her errant partner as well as the sole member of Team TEAL who had missed out on their inter-team meeting and try to figure out how to help said partner. They had gathered their things, worked out a plan of action to find Peter and just stepped out of the dorms when they saw both him and Adelheid walking up to them.

No-one had said anything beyond casual greetings and a few rather tense questions about where either of them had been. All Peter had said was that he and Adelheid had talked with one another and that he was feeling a lot better for it. It was all rather grating for her as she had been trying to plan out some way to work out how to help Peter. Of course she hadn't had much of an actual idea but she had a vague notion of what she should have done and that was good enough. She would have been able to figure it out.

Now they were all standing in the hall between their rooms, everyone waiting to see what would happen. Team TEAL, with the exception of Adelheid, had all agreed to get involved with the investigation – not that Greta was comfortable with continuing it herself – and she could now feel the expectation pressing down on her.

"I really don't want to do this," Greta thought, trying not to grimace.

'I think we should, um, call it a day for now,' Greta said as decisively as she dared.

'Shouldn't we try to coordinate our teams or something like that if we're going to be working together?' Tom asked, hesitating at his door.

'We, uh, have things to take care of,' Greta replied, thinking of her partner. It was a convenient excuse though she saw him frown at her.

'Alright then,' Tom said warily. 'We'll talk tomorrow, right?'

'Yeah,' Greta quickly said in response. 'I'll see you tomorrow.'

With a nod of affirmation, Tom opened the door to his room and walked in, his team following him. Greta saw Adelheid nod slowly at Peter as she went after her team. Peter did the same and smiled a little, the edges of his thin frown rising slightly.

'Uh, Peter,' Greta finally said with a degree of uncertainty. 'Could I, um, talk with you?'

'Oh, of course,' Peter replied in an even tone.

'Not here though,' Greta continued. 'Is that alright?'

'Of course,' Peter repeated, one of his eyebrows raising. His frown was back but it appeared rather passive and unconcerned with what she was saying.

Aurora and Rapture both walked into their room, Aurora saying that she was going to try to work out some kind of plan for their investigation. She also offhandedly mentioned that they would be receiving the last of their school assignments for the semester soon, a fact that elicited another groan from Greta. The moment they shut the door, Greta remembered she was now alone with her partner.

'So,' Peter began. 'What would you like to talk about?'

Greta felt slightly uncomfortable again as she looked her partner in the eye. She couldn't help but remember the savage look on his face yesterday, seemingly laid over the top of the more comfortable expression he now presented to her. Greta swallowed as she tried to think about what she was going to go. She hadn't actually planned this far and the inkling of an idea that she had formed beforehand definitely hadn't accounted for him coming back to the dorm so soon. She had initially hoped she would have the time it would take to find him to think about what she wanted to say to him.

'Uh… do you mind coming with me, please?' she suddenly said. If she could find another place to talk to him, she could buy time to plan.

Peter complied and so Greta set off to find somewhere she could talk to him that was far enough away so that she could plan her conversation and wouldn't be awkward or weird. She wandered up the stairs to the next floor and began to walk down the corridor, Peter still following after her. She knew she had no idea where she was going and was expecting to reach the stairs at the other end of the hall and just go back down. It was then that she saw an open door on the side of the corridor that faced the outside wall and through it was an opening out into the night.

Curious and somewhat desperate, Greta walked down the short passageway and peeked through the door. Outside it was an open balcony that overlooked the grounds between the dormitories. It was also, thankfully, unoccupied, the empty space looking out to the skyline the main academy presented in the dimming light of the late afternoon.

"Oh thank the gods,"Greta thought, sighing gratefully as she stepped out onto the balcony.

'Is this where you wanted to talk?' Peter asked. His tone was somewhat impatient and when Greta turned to look at him she saw that his frown was one of slight irritation.

'Uh, yes,' Greta replied with a quick smile plastered on her face.

'Great,' he said, his usual smile reappearing but looking a lot less relaxed and more brittle than it normally was. 'So, what is it you wanted to talk about?'

'Well, I,' Greta stuttered, still unsure of how to begin. 'I wanted to talk about yesterday.'

Greta tried not to cringe as she saw Peter's smile disappear and what looked like a scowl emerge on his face. His stance became tense as well and his breathing slowed and became heavier. It was clear that he had been as afraid of this conversation as she was.

'Are… are you alright?' she tentatively asked.

'What?' he abruptly hissed before collecting himself. 'Oh, yes, yes. I'm fine.'

'O… okay then,' Greta said. She still felt uncomfortable but she wanted to know. The outburst from the day before was still in her head and she couldn't get it out of the forefront of her mind. 'I just wanted to know, um… well, about what happened yesterday.'

Peter didn't reply, instead he sighed, rubbed his face hard with both of his hands and then turned around to walk away. Greta was confused and feared that he would just walk back into the dorms but instead, he went over to the wall next to the door, stood in front of it for a few seconds and then turned back to her. He now had a resigned and tired look on his face. Looking into his eyes, Greta almost felt spooked but not for the same reasons as yesterday. She had never seen her partner with such a depressed and tired expression on his face before.

'You really want to know?' he drawled in a voice that matched his expression. Greta nodded, wondering if it was worth backing out and leaving him be but automatically responding anyway.

'Right,' Peter said. He then – surprisingly – sat down on the concrete floor of the balcony. Feeling awkward at staring down at him, Greta did the same. Once she was on the ground, she looked back at him, meeting his eyes.

'Okay,' he began. 'This is going to be difficult to explain but I'm going to do my best. I didn't expect this conversation to happen back when our team was formed but after yesterday… I guess it's just not worth hiding it.'

He paused for a moment and looked up at the sky. Greta waited, expectantly, feeling awkward as she watched her partner stare into space and frown to himself.

'How much do you know about my family?' he then asked, breaking the silence that had descended between them.

'Um… not much really,' Greta answered. 'Oh, yes. You're from an island in Atlas right?'

'Avalon, yes,' Peter clarified. 'Well my family aren't just from there, we're actually nobility, the most powerful family in the region.'

'Really?' Greta said as her eyes widened, shocked at what Peter was saying. "That can't be real," she thought. "I mean he's rich but he can't be a noble. Can he?"

'Yes, really,' Peter continued. 'We've essentially been running the island for generations since most of the other noble families moved to the mainland. That's not important though.'

'You obviously know about the Witch War don't you?' Peter then asked. Greta nodded and grunted an affirmative, prompting him to continue. 'Well in the early years my family were the ones who practically ran the island after the council ordered Atlas to shut its borders. We did the same but since we were an island we needed even more control than the mainland. Then the news about the White Fang backing Cinder Fall came out, then there were the terrorist attacks, the assassination of the royal family and everything else that the White Fang did.'

Peter, slumped forward a little, slouching and frowning again. Greta had heard about most of the things he had listed off, having read about them in school. Usually, when the events of the Witch War were brought up, the conversation would be a morbid or disturbing one and Greta could see where Peter was probably going to go.

'Atlas started going after the faunus then and, well, Avalon and my family weren't any different.' Peter's voice had become more level but it was somewhat monotonous as he carefully spoke. 'We started profiling them, we rounded them up, my grandfather started organising the detainment. We built a bloody camp out in the woods, where everyone knew the local Grimm nested.'

'Then, then it just went insane,' Peter said after a short pause. 'I heard everything from my grandfather. They rounded up every faunus they could find on the island. They started… torturing them, they tortured them, they started executing them. The witch hunts became witch trials.' Peter looked up at Greta and fixed her with a glare. 'I saw a massive clearing in the woods my family owns filled with burnt stakes of wood. There's still piles of old ash fused into solid chunks of charcoal. It was a forest of burnt up stakes going on and on and my grandfather, my _family_ , were the ones who made that.'

'Peter… I,' Greta started, completely lost on what she could or should say. She was shocked by what he had told her but also confused. 'That's… um, it's not your fault.'

'That's not the point, Greta!' Peter snapped. He was glaring at her now, the look he was giving disturbingly similar to the one he had worn the other day when he beat down the gang. 'My family went mad. Only the gods know how many faunus my grandfather put to death. My grandfather, he, he murdered hundreds, thousands and he says he didn't care until years afterwards, when everyone was condemning him for it.'

He calmed down, his expression turning from angry to depressed and, most surprisingly, afraid. 'When I beat up those men I was only angry. I wanted to hurt them and I did. When I blinded that man I felt good about it. I was happy to see him crippled. I wanted to do more. I would have done more. If I hadn't stopped… if I hadn't I... I, I just don't know what I would have done.'

'But you did stop, Peter,' Greta interrupted, worried about how he was acting. 'You didn...'

'But I could have!' Peter shouted, tears in his eyes. Greta flinched as he turned to her. 'I crippled a man! I hit them in ways I knew would hurt them. I knew they were unprotected and that made it feel even better. I could have done more to them. I was… I could have...'

Greta was stunned by what she was seeing in front of her. Peter's voice had quickly become broken as he ranted, no longer focusing on her. He had put his hands in his hair and was pulling at it as words spilled out of his mouth in an increasingly panicked tone.

Suddenly, an idea came to her. It was something she had never done before but she had heard it helped sometimes. She bit her lip as she wondered whether or not it would work.

"What would he do if I did that?" she thought, worried he might lash out, intentionally or not. As she saw her partner become even more worked up, she finally made her decision and steeled herself. As Peter continued to work himself up, she stepped forward, her arms spread and hugged him.

Peter immediately went silent the moment Greta made contact, wrapped her arms around him and placed her head just next to his. He did rock back on his heels and move one of his legs back a step to keep himself from falling over but otherwise he seemed to be stunned. His arms were raised in the air, having moved to keep from hitting Greta when she had lunged at him but he was otherwise frozen.

'I… it's alright Peter,' Greta said, trying to think of something to say to him. Now that she had actually hugged him she was once again at a loss of what to do. She had never hugged someone to calm them down before and felt incredibly awkward.

Her neck started to feel a little stiff from keeping it by Peter's head and so she let it rest on Peter's shoulder. Slowly, she saw Peter's arms lower and then wrap around her as well as he relaxed a little. Despite herself, Greta started to feel a little relaxed herself.

"This is… actually kinda nice," she thought as she stood there, unsure of what else to do. "It's also really weird."

'Um, uh, thank you,' Peter mumbled out, his voice sounding bizarre now that his head was right next to one of her ears.

'It's, uh, it's no problem, alright?' Greta said. She stood there for several seconds, feeling both incredibly awkward and strangely comfortable. Though Peter was with her, she couldn't tell what he was thinking or even see his face. He was completely silent and not masking any movements.

'Um, listen,' she then said, breaking the silence. 'Peter. You're, well, you're not like that. I know you're not like that. You're a good person.'

'You don't know that,' Peter muttered back to her.

'Yes I do,' Greta said instantly. She then hesitated immediately afterwards. She thought about how she had felt for the last day, ever since she had seen her partner maim several men in an unsettling rage.

"Oh gods I've been thinking he is like that," she realised. Ever since the fight the other day she had been afraid of her partner, terrified of the cruel hunter he had become. Even when she had calmed down there had been a few small thoughts and fears in the back of her head.

'I do know that,' Greta said, haltingly and afraid that her hesitance had made things worse. 'Peter, I… I've been your partner for two months now. I've lived in the same room with you, gone to classes with you, fought Grimm with you. This is the first time I've ever seen you like this.'

She backed away from him, still keeping her arms on his but putting some space between them so she could see his face. Looking into his eyes, she saw that he was still afraid, both of himself and what she and everyone else thought of him. She couldn't say that she wasn't unsettled by what he had done but she also didn't want to see him so torn up and scared.

'Peter,' she began, thinking hard about what would be best to say. 'You, well, you made a mistake, right?'

She saw him sigh and give a nod, his eyes averted from her own. His mouth was set in a thin line and he seemed to look shrunken and strangely embarrassed as Greta continued to hold his arms.

'Right, then you just need to do your best to, um, not do that,' Greta continued, trying to sound as confident as she could even as she scrambled her brain for the right words. 'I'm here to help you. I'll make sure that this doesn't happen again. So will Rapture and Aurora, right?'

Peter now looked a little torn and confused. Greta hoped that what she was saying made sense and was getting through to him because she didn't like seeing him looking so depressed and also because she never wanted to see him lose control like he had ever again.

'We're all here to help and if you need someone to, I don't know, um, talk to or do whatever you think helps with your problems then I'm here. And so are Aurora, Rapture, even Tom and the guys in TEAL.' Greta almost felt calm as she became more sure of herself and what she was no sure wasn't just nonsense. 'You're not a bad person, Peter. I know that and so do the rest of us, no matter what happens.'

I don't care what your grandfather did,' Greta said, continuing as she gripped Peter's arms again and shook them a little emphatically. 'You haven't done that, you didn't attack that gang first, right? They attacked us and you stopped before you did worse stuff to that guy. A bad person wouldn't have stopped. A bad person wouldn't have cared.'

'Uhhh, yeah, yes, you're, you're right, Greta,' Peter said after a heavy sigh, his eyes on the ground. 'I just… I needed to get that out. I already talked to Adelheid but it looks like it wasn't all out yet.'

'Well I did just say I'm here to talk with you when you need me,' Greta replied with a smile, feeling a little nervous as she recalled her sudden promise. She had felt uncomfortable and panicky through her entire pep-talk with her partner and wasn't looking forward to doing another.

'Thank you,' Peter said as he straightened and his voice calmed.

'Great,' Greta responded, smiling more surely. It was then that she noticed that she was still holding Peter in place and had her arms holding his. Flushing in embarrassment, she immediately let go and stepped back.

'I… I, uh, sorry about the, you know, hugging you, thing,' Greta stuttered, looking away from her partner.

'No, no,' Peter replied calmly, chuckling a little. 'I needed that and I appreciate it, honestly. Thank you, Greta, for everything.'

Greta looked back to find that he was smiling though it was a little hesitant and his eyes still seemed to be unsure. It was an improvement though and Greta could see that he seemed a lot happier than when he had shown up at the dorm about twenty minutes ago.

'Alright,' Greta said with a sigh. 'I guess we can go back to the dorm now. I feel really tired now.'

'Of course,' Peter replied, turning to the door. 'We probably need to talk to Rapture and Aurora as well,' he added. 'I won't be telling them my family history though.'

'That's fine, that's fine,' Greta said as she walked to his side. 'I'm just glad that we can talk about it.'

'Yeah,' Peter said. Greta couldn't see his face but she heard the weariness in his voice. That probably wasn't the best sign but it wouldn't be that bad. Right now, she was ready to put the issue to bed along with herself and by all the gods she was going to do so.

* * *

 **November** **7** **th** **1462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

Nox Skye, Headmaster of Shade Academy, Patriarch of Vacuo's armed forces and one of the most infamous men alive in all of Remnant sighed as he watched his flagship, the intimidating, Ausfuhrung hovered closer and closer to Beacon's airdocks. The massive Atlesian made battleship had been in orbit with its escort cruisers – the Verwusten and Entschlossen – for three days now as he waited for his accommodations on Beacon campus to be sorted.

His arrival was on a Saturday. It was now the following Tuesday and it was clear that he was going to be staying for some time since it had taken all of that time to finally secure full accommodations for himself and his men. The process had been frustratingly long, as it had been before at Atlas and Haven but now that he had been given everything he had requested, he could begin offloading all of his, his men's and his children's belongings.

Many people had called him out in the past for acquiring the decommissioned Atlesian battleship when it was about to be sent to be scrapped and recycled. Not only was it an obsolete model but it was the flagship of the infamous Atlesian Third Fleet, the taskforce responsible for the Menagerie Massacre. The ship had gone down in history as the tool responsible for countless horrific deaths and many of Nox's colleagues had protested him buying it for the Vacuite fleet.

Nox, however, had not cared. He had wanted a ship that would strike fear into the hearts of his enemies and an Atlesian warship with a reputation like the Ausfuhrung was perfect for him. He had bought it and personally overseen the renovations and upgrades that had made the Ausfuhrung worthy of leading Vacuo's armies. On top of the formidable weaponry it carried, the ship was also built with substantial cargo storage, perfect for carrying the various items that he considered necessary for his journey.

The hum of engines suddenly interrupted Nox's thoughts, returning his attention to the open bay doors of the Ausfuhrung's cargo hold as the crew carefully drove out a pair of large black cars. Nox smiled behind his fully enclosing mask as he saw both of his prize possessions, a pair of massive Vacuite made cars, made their way off of the ship and were parked on the dock's service road leading up to Beacon's main avenue.

Both vehicles were identical sports utility vehicles with black bodies and large, reinforced wheels. They were raised high on their suspensions and had been discreetly armoured, the reinforced armour plates discreetly hidden within the chassis. Nox was proud of both vehicles, having personally customised them himself. He had spent many months taking the two cars and rebuilding them from the ground up to be absolutely perfect for him for both recreational and military purposes. He alone knew exactly what the cars were fully capable of having forbidden anyone else from working on them with him.

"They'd better be careful with those," Nox thought, glowering as he watched the crew get out of his personal vehicles and return to offloading the rest of the cargo.

He was going to be in Vale for a while, he knew that and so he was preparing for any eventuality. Atlas and Mistral had been disappointingly dull but Vale was currently going through a crisis, one he would be more than happy to help with and so he had taken steps to ensure he would not only involve himself in the issue but resolve it, quickly and effectively.

'Patriarch Skye, sir,' a pair of voices spoke behind him. Nox turned around to see a group of students standing behind him at attention, all of them dressed in brightly coloured armour.

Nox turned and smirked. These were the Atlesians that were working with Professor Arc. Nox wasn't sure how much these students, all of whom couldn't be older than his own children, actually knew about the bigger picture that their mission was encompassed by but he knew they were an asset. They were all trained to the exacting military standard of the northern kingdom and the personal students of Professor Lupina – whose own granddaughter was in one of the two teams.

'Good, you're here,' he replied simply, turning fully to face them. He saw none of them flinch when he bore his full presence down on them but a few lips and eyebrows did quirk.

'I will make this simple for you,' he said, examining each of them as he spoke and watching for their reactions. 'I will be… _intervening_ in the investigation you are currently a part of. It would be in your interests to assist me in this matter.'

The reactions he got from them were much more understated than what he had expected. There were looks of shock and confusion but they were mild, somewhat suppressed and controlled. The tall, male leader – Geoffrey Strong, according to the file – looked like he was slowly transitioning to irritation as well, whilst Selene Lupina looked rather disgruntled and torn. Otherwise, however, they were all standing in place, quietly digesting his proclamation. Though Atlesian discipline hadn't dulled their youthful thoughts and considerations completely it had taught them the value of keeping their mouths shut.

'Um, Patriarch Skye, sir,' Strong began, completely dashing Nox's previous evaluation of him. 'With all due respect, we've… heard nothing about you… "intervening".'

Nox smiled behind his mask. "Ah, the foolishness of youth."

'You have heard nothing about it because the decision was reached shortly after my arrival,' he said simply. 'I will be intervening. That intervention will no doubt bring with it a level of political fallout, but I suspect in the long term the benefits will outweigh what complaints Vale's government have - no doubt my assistance to local law enforcement will help to… _motivate_ them.'

'Have you cleared this with Professor Arc, sir?' Lupina asked.

Nox fixed her with a glare. Even though it was covered by his mask he knew that he could quite easily cow grown men down with his look. It was a gift he possessed and had spent years perfecting over the course of his career and had been instrumental in not only making his enemies fear him but also aided in bringing dissident Vacuites into line.

'With all due respect to Professor Arc,' Nox said, a hint of disingenuousness in his voice, 'he is not a soldier, and while he and I are equals, I do not answer to him. He has spent more than twenty years away from military action and it is quite clear, when considering the state that Vale is in, that his skills have dulled. My own work in that regard is, shall we say, "more recent". In the interests of Vacuite security – and indeed, Valesian security, which is as much an issue given the upcoming tournament – I will not stand by and watch, not when these traitors may threaten _my_ people.'

The group's reactions were varied. Some seemed a little unsettled by his assessment of Beacon's headmaster whilst others gave small indications that they, in some way, agreed with him. They weren't on his side just yet but that wasn't an issue.

'With respect, sir,' Strong put in, 'why tell us?'

Nox smiled again. 'As I said. It would be in your interests to assist me. I know something of your mission and the goals you have – with my support on the field, the matter can be brought to a swift resolution, far quicker than would be possible otherwise.'

'You don't think we can do it?' Lupina challenged him.

Nox snorted. 'Your youthful pride tells me you _think_ you can. Whether that translates to ability is unclear. Do _you_ think you are the equal of the military commander of Vacuo, a veteran of the Witch War? Do you deny that my presence would be of use?'

'Your presence in what capacity?' Strong asked, forestalling Lupina's response. 'You'd take command?'

'Is there some objection?' Nox asked.

'We were placed under Headmaster Arc's command by our own Headmaster, sir,' Strong explained. 'To switch to _your_ command is not in our -'

'Professor Arc has put his duties as headmaster first,' Nox stated, speaking as if his words were absolute fact, 'which, although an admirable principle in peacetime, hamstrings his ability to hunt down Vale's enemies. I, however, am _not_ restrained in that capacity.'

He saw the two leaders give one another aside glances. Both of them still looked sceptical but Nox could also feel a hint of hostility behind their supposedly passive expressions. It was difficult to tell exactly what decision they would make but he now knew they both didn't like him.

'With respect sir,' Geoffrey began. 'We were assigned by Headmaster Lupina to Professor Arc's investigation. Unless we receive an official reassignment order from him we must remain under his command – and thus, refuse your… offer.'

Nox raised an eyebrow at the boy. He wasn't entirely surprised by what he had decided upon. Instead it was the steadfast manner in which Geoffrey had addressed him. Lupina had a similarly stoic look on her face, indicating her agreement with the GOLD leader.

'As you wish,' Nox said, acquiescing to their decision. 'Know that I will be involving myself regardless. I would recommend you follow my,' he paused for a moment as he searched for an appropriate term, 'advice, should we cross paths. I will not accommodate your plans when I intervene so it's best that you work with me, not against me.'

With that he turned away from the students and strode over to his belongings. The Ausfuhrung had already unloaded his things and was returning to its position above the school. Now that he had access to his car again he could more easily move about Vale without concerning himself with local assistance. With his belongs ready to be transported to his accommodations, his children settled into the visitor dorms, the paperwork for the Vytal Festival now in the hands of Professors Arc and Smith and his fair warning delivered to the students who were Arc's contacts with the investigation, he could finally start making his move.

Nox smiled behind his mask as he looked up to his small flotilla hovering overhead like a trio of birds of prey ready to strike. He would do whatever it took to cleanse the world of the taint of the Society, the Red Fang, the Grimm and anyone else who threatened the security of the kingdoms. Vale had no idea what was about to hit it but he did and he was going to make sure that he struck first.

* * *

Jaune stared down at his desk and sighed at the digitised projections of the Vytal festival participation forms. The documents needed reading, signing and ratifying in triplicate along with the ancillary security and expense forms that would grant Vacuo complete responsibility for anything that happened at the festival. That of course meant that unless he signed the forms carefully, the Vacuite government would also be given the right to arrest and prosecute the visiting foreign participants as well.

Once again, he pressed his thumb to a dotted line on a document and saw his digital signature appear on it. Bureaucracy was one of the things he definitely loathed about the headmaster position, especially since it meant that the Council often believed the importance of the paperwork granted them an excuse to interfere in the running of the school. He wasn't on the best of terms with most of the elected officials and the few he could count as friends were usually ganged up on by his opponents.

'Is it too late to just run off and join Ruby?' he mumbled to himself.

It was during times like this that he truly envied his wife. She was free to pursue her career as she had wanted, her days of genuine heroics never ending. Of course she would always regale him with the horrors of surviving in the wilds, far away from any form of civilization. He didn't know how many times she would complain about the fights with random bandits, the need to find secure places to sleep so that wandering Grimm didn't find her, the long periods without a fresh change of clothes, the lack of showers or toilets or the indescribably gross feeling that came from wearing the same pair of underwear for weeks on end.

Though he was always sympathetic when she brought up the same old arguments he wasn't a complete stranger to these things. He had spent eight years fighting the worst war in history alongside her after all. Of course she knew that as well. By this point, her complaint sessions were more of a game where she tried to adopt the whiniest tone she could and pull the most over the top and exaggerated faces she could as she listed off whatever she could think of in a silly voice. By the end of it they were usually laughing, Ruby settling down to enjoy the little luxuries she had gone without during her missions as the two of them got ready to enjoy their time together, however short it often was.

He was shaken from his thoughts by a ringing from his scroll. Dismissing the documents from his desk, Jaune placed his scroll on the interactive surface and immediately projected the display up to his face. His eyebrows rose as he saw the lack of details other than an encryption identification code. It was Ruby.

"Well, speak of the devil," he thought bemusedly as he accepted the call.

'Ruby?' he said warmly, waiting for his wife's response.

'Hi honey,' Ruby's voice replied. 'Just calling to say I finally got a ship back to Vale. Sorry, but it's an ocean ship so I'll be taking a while.'

'Right, right,' he said, thinking over the news. 'That's alright. I can't say what you'll be coming home to though.'

'I've heard some things,' Ruby said in response, her voice turning weary and concerned. 'Something about a war against the city's criminal gangs. I also heard about the bombing at the square. You're okay aren't you?'

'Ruby, I'm fine,' Jaune chuckled. 'It's been getting out of hand though. It looked like the police were going to pull out but then the bombing happened. Now they're throwing military forces into the north of the city. I've also got Nox Skye over here as well.'

'Really?' Ruby groaned. 'Great.'

'Yeah,' Jaune sighed. 'It looks like he's on some kind of warpath too. If we're lucky he'll be gone before you get back but this paperwork is a nightmare... a nightmare'

Ruby giggled as Jaune finished his sentence with an exaggeratedly despairing tone. 'Well I can't talk for much longer. I've got to say that things were looking really weird in Mistral before I had to go. I can't say much right now but a lot of people have been moving west and joining the refugee groups and I think some of them are in the group I've been following.'

'Right,' Jaune said, frowning at the news. 'We'll talk more when you get back.'

'Sure, I'll wait,' Ruby said in response. Her tone then shifted back to a cheery one. 'I'll see you soon. Love you honey.'

'Love you too,' Jaune replied before hitting the cancel button and ending the call. He sighed as he slumped back into his seat, pulling his scroll off of the desk and rubbing his face with his free hand.

Bringing his paperwork back onto the screen, he went back to reading over them carefully. He felt a little bit better for having talked to Ruby, something that didn't happen as often as he wished it could. At the same time, the small amount of information she had been able to give him was disheartening. When he added it to the increasingly large puzzle he was trying to solve it was just one other thing he had to worry about.

"I need more help," he thought as he finished signing one of the forms and sent it to be copied in triplicate before submission.

Grimacing, he pressed his thumb onto the desk and brought up a list of individuals that he kept. They were the details of several key members of the Order. He only kept a few profiles on his person, specifically those whose contact details he needed to coordinate resources and strategies. He scrolled along it until he came upon the profile for Regnus Lupina, the headmaster of Atlas.

Jaune frowned as he looked at the stoic picture of an older man with hard eyes, a square jaw and long blonde hair that reached down to his broad shoulders, streaks of silver showing through the almost heroically, wavy locks. A former soldier, war hero and regent of the throne of Atlas during the Witch War, Regnus was one of the more overt leaders of the Order. Whilst not intolerably belligerent or foolish, he was still too aggressive for Jaune's taste. He was also, however, the one with the most resources at his immediate disposal and the man the other leading members of the Order were often forced to go to when they needed extra manpower and equipment.

Jaune poised his finger over the contact symbol, pondering whether or not it was worth calling for another favour. He was already indebted to the Atlesian headmaster and wasn't sure when or how the favours he had asked for would be called in. Sighing, Jaune pressed on the button and then selected the secondary, email option.

'I'm not making a decision,' he muttered to himself as a holographic keyboard appeared on his desk. 'I'm just hedging my bets.'

"We need to talk," Jaune typed onto the screen in front of him, keeping things short and simple. "Reply when you're able. Jaune Arc."

* * *

 **November** **8** **th** **1462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

Greta tried to suppress another groan of fatigued frustration as she glared down at the pile of homework in front of her. With the Winter holiday right on its doorstep, the school had decided to offload the last of the assigned course work on the student body before they ended the semester. This had meant a variety of assignments had been pushed on Greta and her classmates and after having to deal with the ordeal that had been the previous week, Greta was wishing she could just dissolve into the carpets of the school library and be forgotten about until the holiday started.

She had been careful with her team over the past few days. Peter had, for all intents and purposes bounced back but he still seemed a little off around everyone, as if he was expecting them to condemn him. Aurora and Rapture had listened to his story and his concerns and then did their best to assuage his fears. Greta was glad to see that they were a lot more easygoing around him since his explanation and she guessed that they had been as surprised as she had been at seeing him reveal such a massive personal vulnerability to them.

They had all avoided the topic of their impromptu investigation. Greta wasn't sure if it was a good idea to continue after the terrible experience that their last venture had been. No-one in her team had complained either, none of them feeling particularly eager to go after the Atlesian teams or the Red Fang.

That had left them with a lot more free time that they had previously been filling with their speculating over what Teams GOLD and SWRZ had been after and what the Red Fang were planning with their terror attacks. Greta had been relaxing for the first half of Monday when she received a small pile of assignments through the student post from their teachers. Immediately after that all thoughts of snooping were wiped away and she had started panicking over the work that had suddenly appeared.

Since then she had spent several hours in the library, attacking the pile as much as she was willing to get it out of the way. She had learnt her lesson after having to rush through the last great pile of assignments that she had let build up through her procrastination. It was currently one of her self-assigned work sessions in the library and she was trying to reach the halfway point of the workload.

'So,' a voice suddenly asked, jolting her out of her focus on the last of her geography papers, 'when are we going to talk about this investigation?'

Greta span around to see Elizabeth Coburg standing across the desk from her. The red-headed bruiser of Team TEAL was standing in place with her hands on her hips and one of her normally inscrutable expressions on her face. Greta was surprised that the girl was talking to her as they had never really spoken to one another alone before.

'Sorry. What was that?' Greta asked.

'This investigation,' Elizabeth repeated. 'The one we volunteered for. You said you would talk with my team about it and we haven't heard anything since.'

'Sssssssshh,' Greta shushed the other girl, a nervous expression on her face. 'Do you want everyone to hear you?' she hissed as she looked around the library to see if anyone had heard them.

'Who?' Elizabeth asked, looking around as well with a haughtily calm look.

Greta looked around to see the area they were in was actually rather empty. Surprised, she took out her scroll to check the time and was shocked to see that it read three forty seven, quite far into the afternoon. She had started at around ten in the morning and only thought she would have spent a couple of hours on her homework.

"When the hell did it get this late?' Greta asked herself. "I can't have been taking that long.'

'Uh, forget it,' Greta groaned as she put her papers away and got up from her seat. 'Yeah... just, I can't really talk about it right now.'

'Why not?' Elizabeth asked, a frown forming on her face as she followed after Greta. 'We've been waiting since Saturday and you haven't said a thing.'

'Listen,' Greta said, feeling annoyed as she fixed the girl with as authoritative a look as she could muster. ''We've just not got anything to work with right now and none of us want to go looking for anything.'

'Really?' Elizabeth deadpanned, a slight hostile hint to her voice. Greta turned to see the other girl was glaring at her. She almost took a step away from Elizabeth due to the intensity of the look she was receiving. Though she wasn't doing anything other than frowning and furrowing her brow, Greta felt like she was facing an oncoming storm, pressure building up around her as she was stared down.

'Okay alright,' Greta stammered, desperate to end the unsettling ordeal. 'I… I'll let you know when I get something.

'Wonderful,' Elizabeth beamed, her glare immediately turning into a satisfied smile that still managed to disturb Greta. She realised that she just couldn't figure out how the other girl thought.

'Don't worry,' Elizabeth then said, her voice a lot lighter and more friendly. 'I won't pressure you anymore. I just wanted to remind you that we're all still waiting.'

Greta watched in stunned disbelief as the red-head span on her heel and walked out of the library and away from her. She was still rather shocked from the oppressive atmosphere that had surrounded her a moment ago. Elizabeth, whilst her friend's partner, was a complete mystery and bizarrely unreadable. Whilst she normally seemed to either be passively haughty or grumpy her mood could change in an instant and it was hard to figure out what that change would end up being.

'How does Tom put up with her?' Greta muttered to herself as she quickly strode back to her dorm room. She wasn't in the mood to do any more work and she felt like she needed to do something to keep Elizabeth from tracking her down again. She definitely didn't want the girl to glare like that at her ever again.

* * *

Aurora was coming back from the training grounds, having tried to once again improve on her close combat abilities. It was difficult, Dark Majesty proving to be somewhat unwieldy in its glaive form even after years of practise. She found that the moment her opponents got within arms length of her the glaive's long length made it impossible to defend herself with.

After going several rounds in the combat simulator rings, she had decided she was done for the day and that it was time to go back to the dorms and grab their room's shower before anyone else could. She was just entering the dormitory section of the campus when her scroll beeped.

"We need to get something for the investigation, now. Greta," the message read. It was a mass email that had been sent from Greta to the rest of the team.

Aurora sighed as she stared at the single sentence displayed on her scroll. She hadn't expected them to pick the search for the Red Fang back up so soon, especially after Peter's breakdown but it seemed that Greta had finally made a decision for them all.

Stifling a groan, Aurora changed course and headed in the direction of the dormitory that they had learnt Team GOLD was staying in. It was as good a place as any to start with and Aurora also wanted to use the opportunity to try out a use for her semblance that she had been practising for a long time now. A part of her lamenting that her decision was keeping her from taking a shower, Aurora set off to the dormitory wall Team GOLD's window was set in.

It didn't take her long to find the dorm building but she had to carefully count the windows to make sure she was positioned under the right one. Concentrating hard, she then focused her Aura and activated her semblance. She could feel the air pressure building around her until it felt she was being gripped by an invisible hand that slowly started to lift her up. Her feet left the ground and the first row of windows passed her by leisurely as she rose into the air and approached the upper floors.

It was when she reached the window that she realised just how slim the ledge beneath the windowsill really was. Slowly turning in the air, she tried to carefully back herself up to the wall, her legs flailing a little in search of the ledge. Aurora finally made contact and grabbed out for some part of the wall she could use as a handhold without giving herself away. Stifling a cry of panic, Aurora was just able to secure her feet and get a hold of the edge of the window.

The window was open but thankfully the curtains were drawn so her hand wouldn't be seen. Not taking any chances, she tried to keep as little of herself visible as possible. Seeing the window open did raise her confidence though. Students were advised to shut the dormitory windows if they were not in their rooms so if it was open it meant someone was inside. Leaning in, she then concentrated on listening for anything that could come from inside the room.

'And you're pretty sure that's where they are?' the muffled voice of a girl asked, stifled somewhat by the material of the curtains.

'That's what the interrogation report said,' a male voice replied. 'They were apparently moving everything out of their other bases to this new one for some kind of operation.'

'And he didn't know what it was?' another added.

'Sorry but no,' the boy's voice answered. 'And he's the only one they've gotten to talk. All the others won't say a word.'

'Well at least we've got something,' another girl said, a noticeable hint of boredom and aggravation to her tone.

'We should just cut our way through to them now,' a deep, gruff voice practically grunted, his disdain and irritation evident.

'The police haven't finished readying their forces and after losing one of their Paladins they aren't as willing to assist us with heavy equipment as they were,' the first boy said in response.

'That is a problem,' another girl stated. 'Their quarantine is still holding though and we haven't seen any breaks like before.'

'Which is why we should strike now,' one of the previous voices almost shouted. It was a girl's and her tone was filled with decisive confidence. 'We don't know how long that cordon will hold and if we are squeezing the Fang then who knows how long it will take before they try to make a breach and escape. We need to cut them down now, break them, take out their leaders and make sure they never rise up again.'

'Cut them down and finish this war,' the gruff voice said in agreement.

'We can't keep dragging this out,' another voice cut in. Aurora was losing track of who was talking and wasn't sure if they were a new speaker or not. 'Public opinion is backing us but the Council are split and the de-escalation faction are gaining ground again.'

'A swift blow before the government turns on us,' one of the previous voices stated.

'Professor Arc's reputation with the Council is unreliable as well,' another voice said, wearily as the chatter began to emerge from other parts of the room. 'The longer we drag this out without results the less our chances of continuing our work become.'

'Alright, alright,' the first male voice interrupted, silencing the others. 'We'll be making a decisive blow. Did the captured Fang give us any details about their hideout?'

'Oh, plenty,' one of the girls who spoke earlier said with confidence. 'He gave us an address and told us that they've been getting weapons, money and even cars from some other group. He couldn't say exactly what they've been given and who was sending them it but we definitely know someone else is backing the Fang.'

'Well we all know who that is,' a girl drawled.

'We'll try to secure as much of these supplies as we can,' the earlier male voice, now more authoritative than before said. 'Selene, try to get as much information as you can by tomorrow. I want to move as soon as possible.'

'Sure,' the girl, Selene, answered.

'Good,' the boy continued. 'In the meantime we'll return to training. We've been falling behind and the recent fight with the Red Fang has shown a flaw in our fighting style. I don't want to go through another fight like Louie's.'

'Understood,' everyone in the room echoed simultaneously.

Aurora stayed in place, clinging to the wall as she heard the sound of marching feet. People were leaving the room but she didn't know how many. For several seconds she stayed completely still, trying not to make any noise and thinking over what she had heard. It wasn't much but she had got Greta what she wanted.

Waiting in place, Aurora strained the hear anything else from the room but there was nothing that she could discern. Satisfied that the room was likely empty now, Aurora prepared to leave. Searching for another handhold to steady herself and prepare for the Semblance assisted jump down to the ground. Concentrating on her Aura, she began to stir the air around and under her body once again.

She was just about to jump, tensing her body for the leap and the sensation of walking on air when her hand slipped. Aurora's eyes widened in shock as she felt herself overbalance, her shoes skidded on the thin ledge and she twisted in place as she toppled. Her concentration broken, the air cushion dissipated quickly and Aurora found she was falling off of her perch.

Arms wind-milling, Aurora fell off of the ledge with a panicked and unladylike squawk. As she fell over to face the ground, she noticed that one of the trees that were planted around the dormitory grounds was also situated right underneath her as well. Trying to change the direction of her fall, Aurora struggled to activate her Semblance again as the upper canopy of the tree rushed towards her.

Despite the pleasant and soft-looking leaves that covered the top of the tree, Aurora did not feel the least bit cushioned when she impacted with the tree. Falling through the thin upper branches, she felt twigs and leaves pull and scrape at her face and body, her Aura preventing injury but not blunting the pain and discomfort. Dark Majesty – which she had kept shouldered through the endeavour – immediately snagged on a branch, pulled at her arm excruciatingly and jerked her around, spinning her over and unbalancing her even further as she fell down into the tree. There was barely a second between breaking through the upper canopy and her impact with the first of the thicker and sturdier branches. She bounced off of the limb and hit another as she fell down, knocking herself against several more before she finally struck the ground, Dark Majesty violently slamming down on the back of her head.

Groaning in pain and embarrassment as leaves and broken twigs rained down on her, Aurora propped herself up on her elbows. Running her hands along her body to brush the debris off of her body, she flushed as she felt her skirt had fallen up when she landed and rushed to fix her clothes. Leaping to her feet, she straightened her outfit and then looked around to see if anyone had seen her.

She walked out from under the tree and nervously looked at the window to see if anyone had heard her but thankfully the window was still obscured by the curtain. No-one else had been in the area either and so her brief attempt at spying on the room and her humiliating fall from the third story window had gone unnoticed.

Sighing in frustration, Aurora remembered why she was doing this and went to check her scroll. She opened it up and began writing a text, transcribing everything she had heard and sending it to Greta.

'This had better have been worth it,' Aurora grumbled as she brushed herself off one last time, folded her scroll and turned back to where her dormitory was. 'I'm definitely grabbing that shower.'

Picking herself up and rubbing her head which was still aching from the impact of Dark Majesty's shaft on the back of her skull, Aurora began to stride back to the dorm. She didn't think the information she had managed to gather was any use but hopefully it would keep her from having to find any more for a while. All she could wonder as she walked away from the other dorm building was what Greta planned to do with it.


	10. Chapter Ten: We're Going Back

**Chapter** **Ten** **:** **We're Going Back** **:**

 **November** **9** **th** **1462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

Greta didn't know how she felt about the meeting she had organised. After Aurora had come into the dorm the other day, looking incredibly angry and dishevelled, she had tried to get as many details as she could from the other girl before she locked herself in the bathroom suite and then sent it to Tom. The response from Team TEAL's leader had been very quick and somewhat disheartening as he had immediately offered to hold a meeting to talk about what was going to happen.

Now that Team TEAL knew, there was no chance of procrastinating any further, a fact that left Greta surprisingly depressed. Though officially – as much as it mattered – she was responsible for restarting the investigation of Team GOLD, the Red Fang and various other things it was definitely a decision she had made under duress.

Tom's reply had been rather short – he had explained that he was in the middle of training at the time. They had managed to arrange a time for both their teams to meet and discuss what they were going to do. The rest of Team GRAP hadn't been as happy to hear the news, especially Peter but they had agreed to help out and so they all sat in their room, waiting for TEAL to join them.

"Who's idea was this in the first place?" she thought as she sat at the desk in her room, elbows on the surface of the desk and her head in her hands. Remembering, she glanced at Rapture who was lounging on her bed, a frown on her face.

Shaking her head to keep herself from blaming her teammate, Greta turned back to staring at the wall in front of her. "How'd we know this would have happened?" she drawled sardonically in her head. "How couldn't it? What else would have happened after you decide to go after a bunch of terrorists?"

She grimaced and shook her head slightly as she played out the aggravated argument with herself until she heard a knock at the door. Lifting her head up, she sighed and prepared to get up from her seat only to see Peter vault off of his bed and walk over to open the door instead.

'Hi guys,' Tom said as he stepped into the room. He had a smile on his face but it was tentative and almost apologetic before turning to find Greta. 'I, um… Elizabeth told me about what she did. Sorry about that.'

'Don't be,' Elizabeth said as she strode into the room confidently. 'It got us moving again.'

Greta grimaced slightly at the girl as Lach and Adelheid also walked in behind her. Adelheid seemed irritated as she walked over to Elizabeth and began to tell her off for how she was acting in front of everyone, the sight being rather surprising. Lach, on the other hand, greeted her, a hint of sympathy in his voice and waved at everyone.

'Alright,' Tom said, interrupting his teammates' argument. 'Now that we're all here we can… um, get down to business? Would that be a good way to put it?'

'As good as any,' Rapture drawled in response. She had sat up on her bed and looked the most invested member of Team GRAP.

'You said you found something,' Elizabeth quickly said, directing a look at Greta.

'Uh, yeah, but it's not much.' Greta said. She wanted to downplay the news but the expectant looks from Team TEAL indicated their interest in what she had to say. Sighing slightly and then pausing to catch her breath, Greta began.

'Okay so yesterday I sent out an email asking everyone to try to find something,' she explained. 'Aurora was lucky enough to find Team GOLD when they were making plans or something. We don't really know what they're doing but they are trying to do something.'

Greta then looked directly at them and paused as she tried to think of something else to say. Though she didn't put much effort into trying to elaborate on her statement, she did try to think of what else Aurora might have told her.

'Uh… that's about it, really,' she eventually said, casting a desperate glance at Aurora for help.

'They sounded a bit desperate,' Aurora quickly said, picking up on Greta's expression. 'They mentioned that the Council don't seem to like them after they lost that Paladin to the Red Fang and that the Red Fang are moving their people and equipment.'

She then pauses as if she were trying to recall something and frowns. 'They also said something about the Red Fang having backers but they didn't really go into it, just say that they were receiving guns, money and cars – I think – from them'

'Backers?' Adelheid asked with a sceptical look and tone. 'Who would back the Red Fang?'

'Probably someone who's desperate,' Peter suggested. 'Then again, if they're giving the money for cars they must have a fair amount of money to dispose of.'

'We haven't seen any big crimes that weren't Red Fang terror attacks either,' Rapture added.

'They're probably relying on the Red Fang to do all of the work,' Tom said. He then blinked and blushed a little as he saw everyone turn to him. 'Um, I mean,' he continued, mustering his confidence, 'if someone's hired the Red Fang – I guess – to attack people but isn't joining in as well then they must be using them like, um… I don't know, a distraction, maybe?'

'A distraction?' Adelheid asked. 'What for?'

'I don't know,' Tom replied. 'Didn't Salem or Cinder Fall recruit the White Fang to cause trouble and weaken Vale? Maybe someone's trying to do the same.'

'You really think someone's going to use that trick again?' Elizabeth suddenly said with a sarcastic tone. 'And why would the Red Fang go along with that kind of plan? Working for Salem is what led to the White Fang getting wiped out in the first place.'

'Well if someone is using that trick, its working,' Aurora interjected. 'We have a literal war going on in the Old Residential District. The army has been called in to quarantine nearly a fifth of the city – and just before the Vacuite delegation for the Vytal Festival arrives as well.'

'I don't think the Red Fang could really do any damage to Vale,' Peter said with a sceptical smirk. 'The White Fang had a global reach and hundreds of cells with thousands of people and new faunus recruits constantly coming in before the Massacre. The Red Fang probably doesn't have much more than a hundred people and only exists in Vale. That's one hundred faunus to try to take down a megacity. Even if they have caused a fair bit of chaos the police have them surrounded.'

'He's got a point,' Lach added. 'I've been keepin' an eye on the news and its sayin' that the police are just about ta move in and finish 'em off.'

Greta stayed quiet as she listened to her friends argue over the entire issue. She wasn't feeling particularly confident about the information or their ability to do anything with it and a big part of her was happy about that. She didn't want to go out and definitely didn't want another fight like last time. After seeing what it had done to Peter she didn't want to take her team anywhere near the Old Residential District for as long as she could.

'We should follow them,' a voice suddenly cut through the debate. Everyone turned to see that Elizabeth had spoken.

'Sorry, what?' Greta asked, praying to whatever gods she could think of for enough good fortune to have misheard the other girl.

'We should follow them,' Elizabeth repeated. With those words, Greta's heart sank.

'Are you serious?' Peter snapped at her, drawing a glare from the red-head. 'We did that last time and look at what happened then.'

'And what happens if we get caught?' Adelheid added. 'They were lucky the police didn't find them.'

'Alright,' Elizabeth grumbled as she straightened herself and then began to speak clearly again. 'Then we actually make a plan for when we go after them. We're not going to find anything on the Red Fang by ourselves. Those two teams are our only possible leads.'

Greta watched as Peter and Adelheid both groaned in exasperation. Surprisingly, Rapture was doing something similar though not to the same degree. Aurora, on the other hand, looked somewhat thoughtful, as if she were thinking over Elizabeth's suggestion. Tom and Lach were watching the others, waiting to see what direction the conversation would take.

'So are you suggesting we just stake them out?' Rapture asked. 'Because we did that last time and we were spending days in our room looking out the window.'

Elizabeth paused, her expression becoming somewhat thoughtful and irritated as she pondered on a possible alternative. Greta herself wasn't looking forward to another long period of sitting around on the off chance that they would catch either team going somewhere again.

'We could network,' Tom suddenly piped up, a confident smile on his face even as everyone turned to him with questioning looks.

'We just keep an eye out for them, make sure we can call everyone when they do something and be ready to follow them as quickly as possible,' Tom explained. He still sounded a little hesitant but picked up speed and enthusiasm as he concluded his sentence.

'That sounds like a good idea to me,' Elizabeth said, causing Tom's smile to widen a little.

'It could use a little more thorough planning but that is a decent plan,' Aurora agreed. Lach and Rapture nodded at her statement as well.

'Gods help me,' Peter groaned. 'Are you all serious? Greta,' he then turned to give her a desperate look, 'you have to talk some sense into them. Come on. Please help me here.'

Greta felt helpless as she looked around the room. Everyone was giving her expectant looks but they held different meanings. Peter – and to a lesser extent Adelheid – were both waiting for her to back them in opposing the decision. Elizabeth and Aurora looked like they were hoping she would tell everyone to support the plan. Rapture, Tom and Lach, however, seemed to be much calmer, as if they were expecting her to break the deadlock the conversation was experiencing.

'I..,' Greta began just as a new voice called out from behind her.

'You're chasing after terrorists?' the voice asked in a clearly feminine tone. 'Cool. Count me in.'

Greta span around to see a girl hanging out of their window, her left hand gripping the side of the windowsill and keeping her in place as she swung a little in front of the opening. The girl was somewhat short with mousy brown hair that she had pulled back in a simple ponytail and brown eyes that seemed to have a satisfied and mischievous light in them as she gazed at the shocked expressions of the people in the room. Her clothes were also simple, made up of brown trousers and a loose, breezy shirt of the same colour. She smirked as she leapt down from the window and into the room.

'Wha… who, who are you?' Greta snapped, her expression turning from confused and shocked to angry.

'Hi,' the girl said with a friendly tone that seemed to ignore the hostility around her. 'I'm Elena Skye, just visiting from Vacuo.'

'Wait,' Adelheid said, getting up. 'Elena Skye? As in the Skyes of Vacuo?'

'The very same,' Elena said adopting a more downcast tone and stance and frowning, as if the name annoyed her.

'Why're you here?' Greta asked, forgetting her nervousness and now feeling annoyance at the girl for barging into her room.

'Oh I've been wanting to join in this investigation thing you've been working on for a while now,' Elena replied, quickly adopting her laid-back and inappropriately friendly tone. 'I found out you were doing this days ago and I've been hanging outside your room waiting for you to actually start talking about it again.'

'You've been doing what?!' Peter shouted indignantly, getting to his feet, clenching his fists and glaring at Elena.

'Oh don't worry mister 'changes in the bathroom',' Elena said flippantly, waving a hand and giving him a small, slightly mocking smile. 'Your modesty's been preserved.' she then turned and looked at Aurora, then Rapture and then at Greta with a smirk. 'I have accidentally caught the girls over here a couple of times though.'

'What?!' Greta shouted, Aurora and Rapture saying the same with her. Annoyance was quickly replaced by embarrassment and furious anger. A quick look at the others showed her they all felt the same, even the members of TEAL.

'I'm sorry alright,' Elena responded in an apologetic tone, her hands in front of her. 'If it helps I wasn't trying to peek in on you changing and I didn't hang around when you were.'

'For a matter of fact,' Aurora snapped as she got to her feet. 'It doesn...'

'Elena,' a boy's voice called from the outside, startling everyone. 'Where are you?'

'Edmund,' Elena shouted back, turning and looking out of the window. 'I'm in here. They're actually talking about this investigation.'

'You're inside?' the voice asked in a noticeably incredulous tone. 'Oh, never mind. I'm coming up there.'

In a matter of seconds, a boy jumped up into the air in front of the window and then through it, landing in front of Elena with a slight exertion of effort. The boy was the same height as Elena, with sandy brown hair and a face that had somewhat similar features to hers. He was dressed in a black tunic and trousers and his face bore an expression that was equal parts embarrassed and frustrated.

'Uh, hello,' he said in a diplomatic voice, noticing the tension in the room. 'I'm Edmund Skye, Elena's brother. Sorry about intruding like this and sorry about my sister. She's, well… she's been bored lately.'

'And how,' Elena mumbled, crossing her arms.

'Get out,' Greta said in a harsh, deadpan tone as she glared at the duo. The longer the girl spent in the room, the more Greta found she disliked her. Her attitude was grating and the things she so casually said she had done made her furious.

'I'm terribly sorry,' Edmund said as he began to walk over to his sister. 'We'll see ourselves out.'

'What? No!' Elena said, a grimace of annoyance on her face. Edmund turned and gave her a significant look that Elena returned. Greta had no idea what went on between the two but Edmund's face quickly softened and he nodded with confidence to her, stepping back.

'Listen,' Elena then said, turning back to Greta, 'I've, well, I've known what you've been doing for a while and I want to help.'

'Why do you think we would let you help us?' Peter immediately asked. His tone was heavy with disdain and his arms were folded defensively.

'Okay, I'm sorry,' Elena said, still confident but with a more apologetic tone now evident in her voice. 'I made a bad first impression. I just want to help out. The stuff you've all been talking about sounds really bad and I want to do something. Really.'

'Really?' Peter replied in a deadpan tone.

'Yeah,' Elena agreed. 'I've even got something that can help. My dad knows where their headquarters is.'

'Wait, what?' Greta asked in surprise. She felt like the floor had been pulled out from under her. The main obstacle to their investigation, one that a part of her was happy to see hamper a mission she had never really wanted to continue, was now gone.

'Well my dad's Nox Skye,' Elena said, her previous flippant tone returning. 'Do you think he wouldn't get involved?'

'Or try to take charge of it,' Edmund muttered, rolling his eyes.

'Well that's good,' Elizabeth began, her voice low. 'How does that help us though?'

'Cause I know where it is too,' Elena answered, an eyebrow raised. 'Do you think I would mention it if I didn't know as well.'

The atmosphere in the room settled as the majority of the group sat back, waiting for Elena to speak. Greta wasn't happy to see the others accepting the new girl and letting her stay but didn't say anything. She just leaned back, folded her arms and let out an angry sigh as she continued to glare in frustration. She couldn't remember the last time someone had gotten under her skin like Elena Skye had. There were some bullies in the past but no-one in the last few years had pushed so many buttons so quickly.

'Okay so Dad's been poking around the war going on in the north of the actual city,' Elena began, leaning against the wall next to the window and resting on the chest of drawers underneath it. 'I was able to grab some things from the office he's set up but it's not much. I found this map with a circle marking out several blocks on the far side of the map and a note with tomorrow's date on it.'

'And you think that's where their headquarters are?' Peter then asked, still sceptical of her.

'Well sort of,' Elena shrugged. 'The circle covered a big area but it was the only one in red. There were several others in blue that looked like they were supposed to be police forces.'

'Do you have this map?' Elizabeth asked, sounding slightly eager.

'Uh, well, not with me,' Elena said, averting her eyes and turning her head to the side. 'Dad has it and he'll notice if I take it. I can try to redraw it though. Anyone have a map of the city?'

Aurora got up from her bed, took out her scroll and went over to the desk. Greta looked at her teammate and tried to give her a quick glance that conveyed her hesitance. Aurora caught it and nodded back to her. Greta still felt worried but knew that Aurora had made her decision. She stepped out of the way to give Aurora room and watched as the other girl plugged her scroll into the access port on the desk's surface. Aurora fiddled with her scroll for a moment before stepping back and pressing a button on the desk. The projectors immediately folded out and brought up a map of northern Vale, the Old Residential District.

'This map's interactive,' Aurora explained as she turned back to face Elena, her expression stoic and indifferent. 'Just copy whatever you remember.'

'Oh no,' Elena said, leaning back against the wall and crossing her arms. 'I'm only telling you if you let me in on this. It's my info and I'm not giving it up without a guarantee.'

Greta frowned. She should have seen something like this coming but the entire situation was far out of her experience and had been happening too quickly. She realised she hadn't actually been in charge of the group since they had all arrived in the room. The others appeared to be deliberating on whether or not to let Elena in and so she moved closer to join in the conversation.

'I don't think we can trust her,' Peter said as Greta approached them all.

'I think he's right,' Rapture added. 'Do you really wanna be seen with her when her dad finds out she's stolen police info. This is Nox Skye we're talking about. The guy's not exactly known for being friendly or forgiving.'

'She's his daughter,' Elizabeth countered.

'Well we're not,' Peter shot back. 'She might be let off with an easy punishment but we probably won't be that lucky.'

'Uh guys,' Greta interjected, getting everyone's attention. 'Didn't she say something about tomorrow. That's probably something to do with the police if they've got all those forces around the Red Fang. This whole thing may not be our problem by the weekend.'

'Gods, you're right,' Elizabeth exclaimed, turning back to the group. 'We need to do this soon if we don't want to miss the action.'

"Shit," Greta cursed in her head. She had been hoping to use that to possibly dissuade the group from going. It was one last ditch effort from the part of her that wanted to put the investigation to bed now that it looked like the authorities would be dealing with it.

'She's got a point,' Aurora then said. 'If we actually do want to do this then we need to move quickly. I say we let her join in. What's the worst that she could do.'

'Did you not hear a word I just said,' Peter interrupted. 'If we get caught with her then we have to face Nox Skye.'

'We've faced the Red Fang,' Aurora countered, 'actual terrorists who don't care about local laws. At worst Nox Skye can demand we be punished.'

The group quickly began to argue over one another as Peter and Adelheid quickly threw every danger they could think of at Aurora, Rapture and Elizabeth. Tom and Lach sat on the edge of the conversation, occasionally backing Aurora's group. Greta sat, desperately trying to think of what to say. She had very little idea of what she was going to do and didn't know who to support anymore.

'Greta,' Peter's voice then shouted over the others. 'What do you think?'

'Um,' Greta replied dumbly, realising she was once again put on the spot. She looked around the group as she saw Peter, Adelheid, Lach, Tom and Rapture had turned to her. Aurora looked like she was still contemplating the argument and pondering her next talking point and Elizabeth was looking back at the Skye siblings. 'I, uh, think we should put it to a vote.'

The room went quiet as everyone looked at her. Most of them were incredulous as they digested her snap response. Some of them looked disappointed whilst others – mostly Lach and Tom – looked relieved at what they probably thought was a sensible decision. Peter was the first to break eye contact with her, sighing and leaning back on the bed he had been sitting on, his arms folded.

'Fine,' he sighed as he raised an arm and waved it dismissively. 'I vote against.'

The others quickly agreed with him and cast their own votes. It didn't take very long for Adelheid to also vote against including Elena whilst everyone else was in favour of admitting her. Greta soon found herself as the only undecided vote. It was also clear that even if she voted in favour of Peter's decision she would lose. Screwing her face up as she thought over what decision to make, she eventually made her vote.

'I'm gonna say no,' Greta finally said with a sigh. 'Sorry.'

'That's alright,' a voice spoke. Greta looked up to see it was Tom who was trying to look supportive and neutral. 'Still, that's five in favour and three opposed. I guess we're letting Elena Skye help us.'

'Okay,' Greta said, shrugging her shoulders. 'I guess it makes everything easier.'

'Yeah,' Tom agreed, smiling at her.

'So I'm in?' Elena asked from across the room.

'Yes, you're in,' Greta replied, trying not to let her mild disappointment show. 'Come over here. We we're about to start planning.'

'Thanks,' Elena said as she pushed herself upright off of the wall and walked over to the group. 'I just want to say I really appreciate this.'

She walked over to the desk and began to look at the projected map. A moment later she straightened up and then lifted her finger and traced it over the image. A circle of red light appeared on the map, covering a large area of the northern section of the map.

'It's somewhere up there,' Elena then said as she stepped back. She then traced a larger circle around the first one. 'The police are all around here. I don't really have anything else.'

'That's still a huge area to cover,' Tom groaned as he stared at the map. 'And how are we supposed to get past the police?'

'I think there's a couple of gaps in that blockade,' Elena answered. 'Dad's map had them represented by circles that weren't overlapping.'

'I don't think we can take that chance,' Peter replied. Greta noticed his face and voice were passive but he had the same tired expression he had worn the week before when they were last investigating the Fang and the district. 'We can't just go over them either. They would probably keep an eye on the rooftops.'

'If they are preparing for some big push then they're gonna be moving the police around though,' Rapture pointed out. 'We might get a chance if we time it right.'

'That's a thought,' Tom said in response.

'I don't know how were gonna know when ta move though,' Lach replied.

'We just have to take a chance then,' Elizabeth suggested. It was clear from her tone of voice that what she had just said was closer to an order. 'We can't just sit here and hope Skye over there overhears her father again.'

'Actually I did hear dad say something about when the police are moving,' Elena said as she walked into the group and sat down on a bed next to Rapture. 'They're going to make their 'big push' in two days or something.'

'Huh,' Greta said dumbly as she digested everything all over again. 'I, uh, guess we need to do something then.'

'Exactly,' Elizabeth almost shouted. 'We don't have any time to deliberate anymore. We need to move.'

'Yeah, fine,' Greta sighed, once again giving in to the flow of events around her. 'I guess we're doing this.'

'Alright then,' Tom said, a patient smile on his face. Greta could see a hint of sympathy as he glanced at her and nodded in understanding. He knew she was tired and worried and she smiled back, trying to look stronger and more confident than she actually felt. 'It looks like we've got to get ready for Friday.'

'Awesome,' Elena said with a confident smile. She then turned to her brother who was still standing by the window, a tired frown on his face 'You in Ed?'

'Does it look like I have a choice,' he replied wearily. 'You know dad's going to kill us for this.'

'Only if he finds out,' Elena shot back. A worried frown then appeared on her face before she looked back at the group. 'Uh, don't worry guys. I'm good at avoiding guards. I'll make sure we don't get caught.'

'Thanks,' Greta said awkwardly, unsure of how to feel about Elena assurances. Though she didn't like the way the day had just gone, she was settling into it. If they were going to go back into the Old Residential District, she was, at the very least, going to try to be ready for it.

* * *

 **November** **10** **th** **1462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

Greta's heart hammered in her chest as she waited with her team for their conspirators to arrive. They had spent the better part of yesterday trying to work out a plan to get into the Old Residential District safely before retiring to rest up and prepare. It was only after she woke up the next morning that she realised no-one had actually thought about what they were actually expecting to do when they found the Red Fang.

They had a vague idea that they would try to find out what the Red Fang were trying to do but aside from that they were all unsure of what exactly they could accomplish against the terrorist organisation. With the police apparently preparing for one last assault on the Red Fang, there wouldn't really be much of an opportunity for them to do anything meaningful, if there ever was one in the first place.

Still she had agreed – once again – to carry on the investigation and try to find the Red Fang. Now she was standing in front of the aerial docks, dressed in her Huntress outfit and fully outfitted for a long, fully armed trip. She imagined this what it must feel like when they would actually undertake student missions before the Vytal Festival.

She shrugged a little, adjusting Firebrand as it hung from her left shoulder and looked at the rest of her team. Rapture was dressed in her own, rather sparse but functional outfit, appearing comfortable with the exception of the bracelets on her wrists. She fidgeted with them a few times, muttering under her breath as she nudged her folded weaponry closer to her hands. Peter appeared rather inconspicuous, his weaponry hidden within his large overcoat. It helped that he wore the overly large garment whenever he stepped outside and that his weapons were small and easy to keep out of sight. Aurora, however, stood out the most with her Dark Majesty, currently in its sniper rifle form, slung over her shoulder, the elongated barrel sticking up over her head.

It wasn't uncommon for students, even first years, to go out fully armed, often for practise sessions but Greta couldn't help but feel nervous. What they were about to do was definitely illegal and whilst they had all managed to avoid getting caught and punished it was unlikely that they would be as lucky next time. The other worrying prospect was actually picking a fight in the district. They would be going into a hostile environment without boundaries, regulations or viable authorities to intervene for them. The enemies would also be more dangerous than the Grimm in the Emerald and Forever Fall Forests. These were criminals, armed criminals who lived in one of the most dangerous sections of the megacity. Some of them may even have their Aura unlocked like the massive White Fang member she had seen Team GOLD fight.

'Nervous?' Peter's voice broke her from her thoughts, making her jump with a startled gasp.

'What?' she asked, still recovering from the shock he gave her.

'Sorry,' he replied somewhat embarrassedly. 'It's just that do you have a rather obvious frown on your face and you've either been looking around or staring into space.'

'Oh, yeah, yeah,' she said in response. 'Just, well, yeah I'm a little nervous.'

'It's alright,' he said, putting hand on her free shoulder. 'We just need to be careful.'

'Thanks,' she sighed. She didn't feel any better from Peter's encouragement and when she looked at him she saw that he didn't appear that confident either. His mouth was set in a thin line that wasn't a frown but didn't project encouragement to her.

Noticing that she had seen how uncertain he was, Peter flashed a quick and small smile and sighed sympathetically. Greta accepted it, smiling in return but quickly returning to frowning again. She turned back to the main avenue into Beacon, hoping that someone else would come to help distract her and her team.

The crowds were quite thick as older students passed back and forth for their lessons, Vytal Festival applicants went out into town for whatever preparations they needed to make and personnel from the Vacuite warships overhead went about their own business. It took several minutes before she finally saw Team TEAL weave their way through the various groups of people around them. Tom spotted them and waved, a bright smile on his face. The rest of TEAL looked much more cautious though, not unlike Team GRAP.

'Hi guys,' Tom greeted as he approached the group. As he came closer, Greta saw that his smile was rather forced but he otherwise moved naturally. 'Sorry we took so long. We took a while checking we were ready.'

'It's okay,' Greta said in response, waving dismissively. 'We're still waiting for the Skyes.'

'We're here,' another voice called out a second later.

Greta turned to her right to see Elena and Edmund walking up to them. They were both dressed in similar outfits to ones they had seen them in yesterday. Elena wore a friendly smile on her face and had a folded cylinder hanging from her shoulder with a few noticeable seams revealing its mechashift nature. Edmund, on the other hand, carried a katana at his side and was frowning, his expression not that dissimilar to the ones the rest of the group were making as well.

'Good,' Greta said evenly as the twins walked up to their group. 'I guess we can grab a bullhead now.'

Agreeing with her, the others followed as she tried to spot a free vehicle that could take them down to the city. It didn't take very long for them to find a transport that could carry them all and they all piled in to take the trip into Vale.

There wasn't much conversation as they flew down into Vale city with only cautious and unenergetic small-talk taking place between a few people. Greta sat and stewed in her own thoughts as they touched down in the main airfield of the city's eastern half. It was only when they finally got off of the bullhead that Greta finally decided to speak up.

'So are we actually sure about where we're breaking in?' she said in a hushed voice, trying not to attract attention. She saw several others in the group repeat it to those who hadn't heard her.

'Uh, sorta,' Elena said after a pause. 'Nothing I've got is really that good. I mean, all my dad's map had was a series of circles and I've not really been able to find anything better.'

'Right,' Greta then looked at Aurora. 'Do you still have that map.'

'I've saved it and it's on my scroll,' Aurora replied dutifully. 'I don't think we should take it out here though.'

'We should wait until we're at the district,' Tom suggested, earning nods from everyone else.

Nodding along with the others, Greta led the way out of the airfield. The group set out, backs straight and expressions on their face that displayed either grim determination or a worried resignation. Either way, the entire group had prepared themselves for the mission ahead.

* * *

It had been an hour since they arrived in Vale, ready to infiltrate a police quarantine zone, and ten minutes since they had in fact leapt over the cordons marking where the zone began. For all of the talk of blockading the area and tightening their grip on the district, Greta was surprised at how flimsy the police's actual boundaries really were. Then again she imagined most people who tried to cross the line were probably trying to break out of the district rather than into it. Shaking her head to dismiss the thoughts, Greta tried to concentrate on the task ahead.

'Alright,' Elena Skye said from just in front of her. She was standing by a street corner, peering round it to see if anyone else was on the other side. 'We're clear. Looks like the cops have moved somewhere else.'

With that they all jogged across the street, crouching as they did so to keep their profile smaller and more concealed. Greta felt nervous as she did this, remembering her last visit into the Old Residential District. Her breathing became heavier and she looked back and forth as the group finally reached the other side of the street and piled into one of the abandoned buildings.

'We should stick to the roofs from here on out,' Elena suggested, receiving nods from everyone. Greta did the same. She agreed with the Skye girl's suggestion but was also still distracted by her surroundings.

They then followed Elena up through the house, taking care to avoid any potentially weak spots in the floors and stars and then climbed out of a window on the top floor and onto the roof. Aurora and Elena took point immediately, scanning the area for any signs of police forces or the district's usual residents. A few seconds later they nodded at the rest of the group, Aurora indicating for them to start moving and then began to run lightly over the roofs of the buildings in front of them.

The group carefully made their way over the rooftops of the streets. When they came to new streets that divided the houses, most of them leapt over the divides, their Aura pushing their bodies further. Others, however, who had no viable technique for crossing such a large space, had to climb down onto the street and cross it on foot. It was a slow and nerve-wracking process and slowed them all down. It was when they had covered several miles of empty streets, distant noises of mass movement echoing around them, that something changed.

'I think I see the police,' Aurora said as she peered over the rooftops of one street end they had just leapt on to.

'Where?' Greta asked, ducking her head and trying to get out of view.

'I think there's Paladins on the, um, west side,' Aurora said as she guessed the direction and pointed to her left.

'I see something moving down the street on the east,' Elena added as she tried to concentrate. 'I can't really see much though. Just something that looks like a lot of people.'

'Probably more a' them,' Lach mumbled to himself as he crouched down beside Greta.

'They probably won't be able to see us just yet,' Peter spoke up from the back of the group. 'I don't see any drones in the air. 'Atlesian forces would have already covered the sky with monitors.'

'Vacuo too,' Edmund added from a little further forward.

'They probably don't want to give themselves away just yet,' Aurora suggested. 'Either way, it means we haven't been caught.'

'We need to get moving,' Elena said, a serious tone in her voice. 'If your cops are anything like Vacuo's then they'll be closing this loop up quickly.'

'Alright,' Greta agreed. She suddenly felt a little shocked and galvanized by the fact that the police had finally been found.

With the rest of the group agreeing, they continued on their path, straight towards the area they knew the Red Fang were supposed to be. As they leapt over the divides between rooftops, someone was always on lookout and relayed whatever they could see to everyone else. Peter, Aurora and Adelheid, as the most mobile usually took up the task of watching for the police and quickly ended up leading the way.

Throughout the journey, the group was tense, looking around and over their shoulder, waiting for any sign of either the police or the district's usual residents. Greta wasn't sure how long they spent carefully moving from street to street but eventually Elena gave the order to stop.

'Alright; we're now on the edge of the circle,' the Skye girl said.

'What's that mean?' Elizabeth asked, the first to speak up as everyone else tried to get their bearings. Everyone else had the maps out on their scrolls.

'It means we have a lot of ground to cover,' Adelheid answered before anyone else could speak, 'and little time to do it in.'

Greta sighed as a thought came into her mind. She didn't like it but she knew someone was going to suggest and out of all of their options it was the only one that was feasible. Stifling a groan, she finally straightened and said what was on her mind.

'We could split up,' she suggested. 'That way we cover more ground and we can tell each other if we find the Red Fang or if the police are moving in.'

'Sounds good to me,' Elena said without hesitation. 'I'm pretty sure we were all thinking that anyway.'

'We should stay in communication with each other,' Tom added. 'If anything happens we call one another for back up.'

'Oh yeah,' Greta agreed, everyone else nodding along with her. It seemed that no-one wanted to take on whatever this area had to offer by itself.

'We'll split by teams,' Tom continued. He then looked embarrassed and turned to Elena and Edmund. 'Uh, unless you guys want to...'

'We're fine on our own,' Edmund said before he could finish. 'We've done this before.'

'Besides,' Elena then interrupted. 'We're third years. We can handle the Red Fang easily if we run into them.'

Greta felt sceptical and a little indignant at Elena's statement and she saw she wasn't the only one. Most of the group were frowning and even Edmund looked like he didn't exactly share his sister's opinion.

'Right,' Tom continued after an awkward pause. 'Well; we should probably figure out where we're going to cover as well.'

Greta stepped forward as everyone gathered around, their scrolls and maps out, and began discussing the layout of the circle they were investigating and how to divide it up amongst themselves. For the first few minutes she didn't listen, more worried about possibly being seen or that the old and rotten roof might give way under their collective weight.

'Okay, I think we can take the western half,' Tom said, jolting Greta back to the situation at hand.

'I think my sister and I should take the centre,' Edmund said, his voice insistent. 'That's where the police are going to make a beeline for and we're more likely to escape them.'

'Or convince dad to get us out of trouble if we're caught,' Elena chuckled with a smirk, earning a tired glance and sigh from her brother.

There was some muttering that Greta didn't really listen to though she could guess that it was mostly people objecting to the Skye's decision to check out the centre. She didn't really care where she went but she was worried that whoever ended up looking through the middle of the circle was more likely to run into the Red Fang. Grimacing a little, she finally made a decision.

'We'll take the east,' Greta declared with false confidence, drawing everyone's attention.

'Alright then,' Tom said after another brief pause and nods of acceptance from the rest of the group. 'I guess if we're all okay with this then we can split up and start looking.'

* * *

After parting with the others, Team GRAP had moved back down onto the streets and were carefully moving through the back alleys, side streets and other secluded areas. Greta had let Rapture take point. Though the faunus girl's home district had been nowhere near as bad as this one was she had a general understanding of how these areas worked and knew how people were supposed to move around unseen in urban areas.

Now that she was separated from the others and responsible for her team, Greta had become a little more focused. She was keeping an eye on her surroundings and trying to think of a plan if they did come across a Red Fang hideout, police forces or anyone else. Her scroll already had the contacts list open and on standby but the signal indicator showed how weak coverage in the area really was. Though they had all planned to keep constant communication between one another it was very clear now that it was never going to be that easy.

'So I don't think they're going to be in any of these houses,' Greta said as she ran her finger over several street layouts. 'There's some kind of warehouse district though that we might see something in.'

'If they have the equipment to cause bombings like Angela's Square then they need the space,' Peter agreed.

'I don't know,' Rapture cut in. 'Most of the gangs in my district liked to spread their stuff out. It made it easier to grab their things and harder for others to steal it all.'

'They have been hemmed in by the police though,' Peter interjected. 'They would have to consolidate most of their assets now.'

'We're heading towards the warehouses anyway,' Greta said, trying to keep everyone on track and get any possible issues out of the way. 'We'll keep an eye on the houses as we go but that's going to be the first place we check out.'

Everyone nodded in agreement and then returned to walking down the empty streets. The air was quiet, completely devoid of the dull, distant echoes of conflict that had followed them during their last excursion into the district. Greta thought that should have made her feel calmer but the lack of expected noise had put her even more on edge. She could see that her team felt more or less the same as she did as well.

It was when they got within half a mile of the warehouses that something changed. They were just about to round a street corner when they saw that the houses in front of them had collapsed. Greta poked her head around the edge of the building and saw that several blocks of houses that they still had to pass through had been flattened, piles of rubble and broken ruins stretching for half a mile before reaching a brick wall that surrounded several warehouse buildings.

"We're gonna have to be really careful here," Greta thought despondently, sighing as she signalled for the team to move forward, crouching low to hide behind the debris.

They crept through the kill zone that now lay before them. Greta couldn't tell how old this damage was. It could have been recent but she wouldn't have been able to tell unless the ruins were still burnt or falling apart. Everything around her looked like it had been broken down long enough to settle and much of the dust was sodden from rain and had moulded into large, semi-solid piles of concrete mud.

She was just about to peek her head around a collapsed wall when Peter crept up behind her. 'I should take point,' he whispered into her ear. 'I can sense what's ahead and see if there's anything waiting for us.'

Greta nodded in agreement and let her partner get in front of everyone. He paused for a moment, shutting his eyes and breathing in sharply. A second later his eyes opened again and Greta swore she could see a faint glimmer of something extra and inhuman in them as he blinked a few times then nodded for them to start moving again.

Their progress was slow as Peter would stop on occasion and wait, straightening a little to peer over the flattened buildings every now and then and then signal to move again. Eventually they made it to the edge of the wall without being spotted. They were pressed against the border of the warehouse area as close as they could without standing up and giving themselves away.

'We have to find a way in,' Greta whispered to the others. 'If they've made a kill zone like this then they're either here now or they've been here before.'

They trekked around the edge of the compound until Peter signalled to stop again. Greta watched him look up at the top of the wall, then look around them as if he were searching to see if anyone was watching then. After a few moments he then suddenly flashed away and reappeared at the top of the wall, looking into the window of one of the warehouses that brushed up against the barrier.

After a few moments where he peered into the window he then pushed against it and Greta saw it rattle a little. He then disappeared again in another subdued flash of light. For a second she panicked and, looking back at her teammates, saw they were nervous as well. Then the window opened and Peter leaned through, a small smile on his face. He then gave them a thumbs up and reached his arms down in front of him.

'The other side's clear,' he whispered as loudly as he could. 'Climb up.'

Greta gripped the slightly crumbled brick in front of her and heaved herself up, finding toeholds for her boots and then began to ascend. It took only a few steps before she could reach Peter's hands and he helped lift her up the rest of the way. As she climbed into the room he returned to the window to help Rapture up, followed by Aurora.

Looking around, Greta was surprised by what she saw. The room they were in was empty, dusty and somewhat neglected but it wasn't falling apart like everything else in the district was. Large clean spaces also punctuated the thick covering of dust that coated the floor along with several overlapping layers of footprints. This room had held something that had only recently been cleared.

'There are people here,' Peter said as he pulled the window shut behind Aurora. Greta turned to him with a questioning gaze along with the other girls.

'A lot of them,' Peter continued. 'I can sense them and if you listen carefully...'

Greta concentrated on her surroundings and she realised that she could in fact hear activity. She couldn't make out what exactly the muffled noises were but it was surprisingly loud and consistent. There were either a lot of people in the building or some very heavy machinery.

'Um, are there any nearby?' Greta asked as she turned to Peter.

'Not at this moment,' Peter replied after a second of concentration. 'There are some people moving about on this floor but they're on a different hallway.'

'Are they coming this way?' Greta continued, brow furrowing.

'No, not that I can tell anyway.' Peter then sighed and put a hand to his left temple. 'I'm sorry but using my Aura like this for too long is exhausting. I'm afraid I'm going to have to stop.'

'That's alright,' Greta said. She was actually rather annoyed that Peter wasn't able to use his bizarre ability to sense people with his Aura but she knew it wasn't worth trying to force him to keep using it. 'I think we should get a closer look at what they're doing though.'

The others frowned but nodded in agreement and readied their weapons. They were now deep in enemy territory and stuck in an enclosed space that was apparently filled with potential hostile enemies. Nodding in return and squaring her shoulders, she pulled out Firebrand from the clip on the back of her belt and opened the door. She peeked her head out into the hallway and quickly looked back and forth.

The corridor was empty. Like the room they were in it was dusty but surprisingly clean otherwise and most of the floor was clean thanks to the well trodden pathways through the dust layer. Nodding back to her team, Greta stepped out into the hallway, followed by her team.

They carefully made their way through the upper floor of the building. Greta cringed at every creak of the floorboards worried that something would summon whoever was inside the building. She didn't know if the Red Fang were the current occupants but considering the people who did live in this district, the other options were probably going to be just as bad. The others were acting the same, checking constantly to see if they had been discovered. The entirety of Team GRAP were thankful beyond belief that the warehouse had no working surveillance systems.

It took several minutes of slow careful sneaking before they found a door that showed a raised gallery through the door's smudged and cracked window. Peering a little further, Greta could see that the gallery overlooked a much larger space, presumably the hanger of the warehouse.

'I think we should go through here,' Greta whispered to her team. 'We could see what's going on in here.'

Once again the others hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement and following after her. Greta slowly opened the door, wincing at every minor squeak of the rusted metal of the hinges. Once the door was open they all quickly moved through it and onto the gallery. Hesitantly, she hung back against the wall, worried that someone might be there to notice them. She saw the others creep forward to look over the edge of the balcony and then moved forward to peer over with them.

She had been right; this was the main hanger of the warehouse and it was full of faunus. The Red Fang banner, the blood red flag with three bone white slash marks across it that she had despised ever since the suicide bomber in the mall had donned a mask with the symbol on, covered a section of the wall across from her. Underneath this flag were dozens of faunus dressed in masks with the same symbol on them, moving between stacks of boxes that they were loading onto the vehicles that filled most of the massive hanger.

Dominating the centre of the floor was a massive Dust-hauler. The huge tanker took up most of the space and was being loaded up with several impromptu siphons that were pumping long streams of crystallised Dust powder from a series of large tanks that stuck out from amongst the crates. A frame of metal pipes was fixed to the tanker and it was covered in Red Fang that were manning the pumps and running checks on the tanker as they attached it to a nearby semi-truck that was nearly half it's length. Along with the noise of the equipment and the movement of the Red Fang operatives there was also the constant shouting of orders back and forth that echoed in the rafters of the hanger.

'Shit,' Greta muttered. She hadn't expected to find anything as big as what was going on in front of her. Now she had no idea what to do. Even if she called the others what would they really be able to do?

They couldn't fight that entire warehouse of Red Fang especially as she took a closer look at the guards and saw they were ll sporting disturbingly formidable weaponry. They couldn't go to the police without them picking up their scroll IDs, giving away who they were and what they had been doing.

'Uh, everyone,' Rapture then hissed. 'Do you see this?'

Rapture inclined her head in the direction of the other end of the warehouse. The rest of the group followed the look she gave and saw a group sneaking along the edge of the wall. There were four figures and they were not dressed like the Red Fang at all. They were all wearing colourful armour and carried their weapons out. It took only a second for Greta to recognise who they were.

'I… is that Team GOLD?' Aurora asked.

'It is,' Greta replied. Though she could guess why they were here she had no idea what they could possibly be planning, especially as they crept behind the remaining stacks of crates. 'What are they doi?...'

'Move!' Peter shouted. He pushed hard against Greta, shoving her aside as he tried to roll in the other direction. An instant later a pair of axes with bladed chains on them slammed into the edge of the balcony where she had been lying.

Greta looked up to see a huge boy in dirty, rust red armour glare at her with the most terrifying snarl she had ever seen. In his grip where the two axes, one in each hand and a finger pressing down on buttons that soon brought the chains to life. With a grinding sound that everyone was all too familiar with thanks to Elizabeth's weapon, the chain-axes tore through the wood of the balcony and came free.

Greta and her team scrambled to their feet and brought their weapons out just as the new boy leapt back along the balcony. He landed in front of three more figures, every one of them in armour as well. A second later Greta realised who they were. It was Team SWRZ, the formidable Atlesian group that had fought Professor Smith a week ago and were supposedly supporting Team GOLD. They were all sanding with their weapons drawn. Some had scowls on their faces but their leader wore a threatening smirk instead.

'Well what do we have here,' the leading girl said, the claws on her gauntlets sparking to life as lightning-Dust ignited and sent electricity running across the blades.

'They saw Geoffrey,' the girl with the quarterstaff added, pointing her weapon at them and deploying the gun muzzles hidden within. 'We can't have them compromising this mission.'

'You're right,' the leader replied. Her tone and expression instantly became more serious, the smirk turning into a frown. 'We'll deal with them quickly.'

Team SWRZ raised their weaponry and adopted a combat stance. In a panicked response, Team GRAP did the same. Greta unfolded Firebrand fully, realising that it wouldn't be as effective in such a tight space only after the transformation was complete. Still, she pointed the dragon-head muzzle at the older team and saw her teammates doing the same.

Smirking once again at their display and letting out a small chuckle, SWRZ's leader gave a nod. 'Take them out,' she said and with that the Atlesians leapt forward to strike.


	11. Chapter Eleven: We're In Trouble

**Chapter** **Eleven** **:** **We're** **In Trouble** **:**

 **November** **10** **th** **1462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

Greta yelped in panic and jumped back as the boy in rust coloured armour slammed down in front of her, his axes barely missing her mid-section and knocking Firebrand aside. She tried to make a return swing but his arm shot out and stopped the fire-pike in its place before it could reach his head. Twisting his face into a leer, he kicked out and caught Greta in the stomach sending her sprawling several feet away and almost hitting Aurora as she did so.

Rapture deployed Long Claw just in time to block a blow from a boy holding a heavy mace. Even though she pushed the brunt of the blow aside she was forced to the floor with a cry of pain. Aurora managed to knock the man back with a shot from her sniper-rifle but he recovered quickly and took a guard stance as Rapture tried to get back to her feet.

The SWRZ leader, Selene, as she remembered, ran forward with a terrifying grin on her face, her gauntlets now sparking with energy as she charged into the fray, blocking every shot Aurora fired at him. Her moving forward, however, happened just as Peter flashed forward and engaged the other girl who had been lining up her quarterstaff's energy weapon, knocking it away and sending her shot astray as a beam of light fired into the ceiling.

The mace wielder hammered his weapon into Rapture, her guard failing to stop it and sending her flying into Aurora. The two collided and were sent to the floor, both of them winded. Desperate, Greta pressed down on her weapon's trigger and let out a gout of flame at the two SWRZ team members barrelling towards her. The two were engulfed by flame but she could see that they hadn't stopped. The mace wielding boy had stepped back and put his arms up to shield his face but Selene simply charged through it, the flames licking over her armour but failing to get past her Aura and fired several bolts of electricity from her claws.

Greta winced just before the lightning bolts hit her and was thrown to the floor, convulsing slightly as the electricity poked through her Aura and shocked her up and down her body. Her Aura held and reasserted itself a second later but she was still slightly disoriented and in that moment, the mace wielder had recovered as well and slammed the head of his weapon into her head with a vicious swing. Greta rolled over, almost lifting into the air from the force of the blow and was slammed back down to the floor by a return strike.

'Stay down,' the boy who had hit her growled as he moved on to approach Rapture and Aurora, the axe wielding boy catching up with him.

Greta raised her head and shook it, trying to blink away the spots in her eyes. Twisting around a little she saw Peter desperately spinning and lashing in a whirlwind of blades as he tried to take out his opponent. The girl he was fighting was hit a couple of times but most of Peter's strikes were being blocked by her quarterstaff which span around her almost as quickly as Peter's swords. It seemed that neither of them was able to fight properly though as the tight confines of the gallery hindered their movements.

The two combatants weaved around on one another and Greta saw the girl actually hit Peter. The head of the quarterstaff struck him in the stomach and winded him. Peter fell onto one knee and finally had to teleport away to avoid another blow. He recovered and leapt back at the girl but she had finally found her feet and raised a more effective guard that was blocking his own moves.

Greta groaned as she felt the discomfort from the mace boy's hits flare up. Despite her Aura she knew that was going to bruise for a bit. Reaching into her dress she pulled out her scroll and brought up the screen to call Team TEAL and the others.

'I wouldn't do that,' Selene said as she stepped into view, her metal boots dominating Greta's point of view. 'I don't think you'd want me to have to break that.'

One of the boots was then raised and came down softly on Greta's hand. It wasn't painful but there was just enough pressure to prevent Greta from accessing her scroll. She was able to see past Selene's legs though to see Rapture was taking the brunt of the two boys' attacks. Aurora had switched Dark Majesty to its glaive form and was trying to strike at them from a distance but they were turning aside her blows.

'Okay everyone,' Selene said as she looked down at into the hanger and frowned, exasperation in her tone. 'this whole thing's cocked up. Geoffrey needs us down there so finish these lot off now.'

The axe wielder leered and a second after the order was given, leaned forward, turning aside to dodge Aurora's next stab and then dropped his left-hand axe. With his free hand, he grabbed Dark Majesty's shaft and pulled. Aurora, still gripping her weapon fell forward with a cry of surprise and was immediately struck hard in the face by the haft of the boy's other weapon. This was followed up with a return strike, this time the blade hit Aurora, the rotating chains trying to penetrate her defences even as the heavy weapon knocked her aside. There was a noticeable flare of purple light as her Aura shattered and she hit the floor. The boy then pressed a boot down on her spine, pinning Aurora to the ground.

Rapture followed soon after. Greta had difficulty seeing exactly what happened but she caught sight of her teammate staggering back, flinching in every direction as she tried to block a series of swift and savage blows from the mace wielder. Every hit threw her off balance and the speed between them meant she couldn't regain it either. Finally a particularly heavy strike broke her Aura as well, a black flash indicating that she was now very vulnerable. The boy finished her off with a gut punch with his free hand and then threw her against the wall, pinning her there with the head of his mace.

It was Selene who made the next move, lifting her foot and allowing Greta to move her arm. The act was difficult, her previously cut off circulation making the act incredibly uncomfortable and uncoordinated. A moment later, however, Selene pulled her foot back and delivered a swift kick, strengthened further by her armoured boots. Greta was lifted up by the force of the kick and slammed into the wall. Selene followed this up by striding forward and smashing her fists into Greta's midsection all in one movement. The lightning that wreathed Selene's gauntlets shot out and coruscated over Greta's body, ripping through her Aura and delivering a series of nasty shocks.

Green flashed in Greta's vision and she saw her Aura break from the punishment she was receiving. Greta slumped down on the floor, unable to move due to the electricity coursing through her body and messing with her nerves. She was just able to move her head to look up at her opponent as she loomed over her.

'And then there was one,' Selene said with a hint of humour in her voice.

Selene turned away to take on Peter who was still holding off the quarterstaff girl. The two were still engaged in what looked like an elaborate dance as they lashed out, parried, blocked dodged and occasionally made shallow hits against one another. Peter was starting to lag but the quarterstaff girl, surprisingly, was in a similar state and was having more difficulty manoeuvring her weapon, mostly resorting to quick thrusts at him with the weapon's ends.

Peter span as Selene approached him from behind, his right hand shooting out as he dodged another stab from the quarterstaff and then grabbed it. Before the girl wielding the weapon could react he had pulled it forward and at Selene whilst his left hand materialised one of his Allegros, the knife transforming into its handgun form. Selene casually batted the quarterstaff aside, breaking it free of Peter's grasp and then lifted her left-hand gauntlet up to cover her face. The lightning shot up in a wall of electricity just as Peter opened fire on her with his handgun, the energy blocking the shots.

Selene then managed to redirect the wall of lightning towards Peter. Greta watched her partner flash out of the way the energy blast as it lashed over the balcony and then dissipated in the open air of the hanger. Peter reappeared a second later behind Selene, ready to hit her with his folded Allegro only to get blind-sided by the quarterstaff of his previous opponent. The staff's head hit him in the temple, dazing him and throwing him off balance. Selene turned and backhanded Peter before he could recover, sending him into the wall as well. Another strike to his face by the quarterstaff girl's weapon finally broke through his Aura and he slumped to the ground, still reeling from the first blow to his head.

Selene scoffed as she looked over the defeated Team GRAP. 'Far too much trouble,' she muttered as her team moved to secure the team.

A loud bang then drew the girl's attention. Greta focused on Selene as she moved to the edge of the balcony and then scowled as she looked down at whatever was going on in the hanger.

'Fuck,' Selene cursed. 'Guy's cuff em and then follow me down there. Geoffrey's in trouble. I'll be going on ahead.'

With that the armoured leader leapt off of the balcony and down onto the lower floor. Greta panicked as she saw the team pull out plastalloy cuffs. Peter was the first to be restrained, his arms pinned behind his back by the girl he had been fighting not a moment ago. She wore an indifferent expression on her face but held him in a harsh grip as she manhandled him. Rapture and Aurora were handled in similar manners but their captors showed their annoyance with the girls more openly.

It was the quarterstaff girl that cuffed Greta, pulling her up and forcing her hands behind her back. Greta felt the plastalloy restraints pinch her wrists as they were forced on her and then tightened automatically as another pair were put around her ankles. They weren't built to cut off circulation like some anti-Huntsman devices she had heard about but they were incredibly uncomfortable as they pressed down on her skin and pulled at her limbs.

'You guys go down and back up Selene,' the girl then said as she turned to her teammates. 'I can make sure this lot don't get loose.'

'Right,' both boys said simultaneously. They then both turned and leapt off of the balcony like their leader before them.

Greta felt exhausted and slightly dazed after the beating she had received. The electric shocks from the battle left her feeling disoriented and twitchy, as if the Dust was still messing with her body. She lay back against the wall, terrified. They had all been caught by students that were associated with the police. The two teams could get them convicted. They could get expelled and their team would be disbanded. She would be sent back to Magnus but this time she would have a criminal record added to her review should a prospective parent ever come along that was interested in an adopted teenage daughter.

All of these potentials and more raced through her mind but all of them revolved around the one question that scared her more than anything. What would happen to them now?

* * *

Geoffrey had been unsure about the mission plan that he and Selene had agreed on but it was the only viable strategy they could work with. Though they were coordinating with the police it had become quite clear that Vale's current tactics were too belligerent and too obvious. Of course, as an Atlesian, he appreciated a show of overwhelming force that would send a message to the dissident elements of society that their existence would not be tolerated but with the wider mission being so sensitive, a more covert approach was vital.

His team and Selene's had both gone into the district ahead of the police to scout out the site that the police had been investigating as the Red Fang's headquarters. They were to survey the site and then report back, coordinating the police forces to prevent the Red Fang from escaping once the mission began.

They had managed to infiltrate the warehouse complex, enter the building that Vale aerial scans had indicated had the largest number of warm bodies inhabiting it and set up a safe channel to the Vale police forces massing in the District. When they had gotten in, however, they realised just what the Red Fang were up to and it left Geoffrey very concerned. He knew the Red Fang were more well equipped than an organisation like theirs should have been but what they had found in the warehouse was shocking. There was tonnes of weaponry, Dust and other supplies, enough to equip an army for a small war and all of it was top of the range.

Geoffrey paused and pressed himself against a pile of crates he and his team were using as cover. He glanced at it for a moment and saw the Schnee Dust Company logo printed on it. A quick look at the stack across from against the wall showed the Kingsley Armaments logo from Atlas; another had Mistral's Kageoi Corporation and Hetaroi Group and there were even some from Vacuo's Ates Techno Union. If the crates he could see were any indication, the Red Fang's benefactors were sparing no expense in arming the terrorist group. After seeing all of this Geoffrey was more sure than ever before that the Society were behind the Fang's recent resurgence; only they would go to such efforts to fund such a small and misanthropic group.

Signalling his team to keep moving, Geoffrey tentatively peeked around the crate pile. He was sure that they wouldn't be detected. According to Selene the Red Fang had picked the upper levels of the warehouse clean and the few guards they set up weren't going to be missed for a while. The faunus on the ground floor were too busy gathering their masses of new equipment and supplies to properly keep an eye on what was going on. The entire organisation was almost embarrassingly sloppy but he wasn't going to complain about his enemies making his objectives easier.

Moving as quickly and as carefully as he could, Geoffrey led his team closer and closer to the Dust-hauler, hiding behind whatever cover was nearby that would conceal them. It was a difficult and delicate infiltration as they were all fully armed and armoured but the team was making progress and, thankfully, they hadn't yet been seen by their targets.

'Wolf,' he whispered into his scroll. 'Do you read me?'

'This is Wolf,' the voice of Selene quietly replied. 'I hear you Ironhand.'

'Is the upper floor clear?' he asked. He was sure SWRZ had already done their job but he needed to be sure. He would be giving directions to a lot of police soon.

'We're clear up here,' Selene said in response. 'The Fang have been taken care of. It's only the lot down there to deal with.'

"Yeah, just the vast majority of them," Geoffrey thought with a smirk, barely suppressing a sardonic chuckle.

He risked another glance around his cover to see he was now very close to his target. Unfortunately, he was now approaching one of the largest concentrations of Red Fang operatives, every one of them scuttling back and forth like ants as they fetched, carried and checked the piles of equipment. The crate stacks were also much smaller as the ones nearby were the boxes that the Red Fang were opening, preparing and either relocating or discarding at the orders of officers that Geoffrey could see no distinguishing features to differentiate them from the grunts.

Geoffrey turned back to his team and gave them a stern look. 'Target in sight, we'll survey for a minute fall back and report what we've found, keep an eye out for any further details and relay them to me.'

Lily got an antique analogue watch and looked down at it. 'Time is starting now,' she whispered after counting down to three on her fingers.

Geoffrey clambered up to a more secure position and began to carefully look back and forth, drinking in the sights around him. He was annoyed that he couldn't get a better view of the whole room but Team SWRZ were supposed to be positioning themselves to find another view point.

He once again took to taking note of the logos on the boxes that were around him or being carried by the Red Fang. He could see every one of them was from a corporation from around the world. Whatever was in these boxes was top quality, regardless of what it was. He could see weapons, ammunition, combat gear, spare parts and all manner of miscellaneous objects and every one of them was the kind of equipment needed for a war.

Suddenly, the general clatter of the hanger was broken by a loud, sharp, metallic clang of two objects striking together violently. Geoffrey just heard it over the regular noise and looked up. What he then saw made him panic.

He had no idea what was going on but he could see Rex swiftly pulling his axes out of the railing of the gallery overhead and across from him. The aggressive axeman also wasn't trying to hide, in fact he was turning his attention away from the hanger and towards figures he could just make out. The fact that Rex was confronting someone noisily was quickly overshadowed by another concern though. If he had heard the sound then the faunus, many of whom had stronger or secondary senses from their animal features, would have definitely noticed as well.

'Shit,' Geoffrey whispered as several faunus called out.

'Something's happened with SWRZ,' Darius hissed, scowling and putting his hand on his blade.

'We got intruders,' someone shouted from within the ganger. Immediately Red Fang members began scrambling. Crates were put down and faunus ran for weapons. Some opened boxes, pulling guns out of the packages and running to find ammunition whilst others took blades and small arms from their belts.

'Shit,' Geoffrey repeated as he reached for Phalanx. His team were also readying their weapons as they watched the Red Fang focus on the gallery and what looked like a battle going on in the upper balconies.

'Do we intervene?' Lily whispered to him.

'No,' Geoffrey said after a quick pause to consider the best course of action. 'We deal with the Fang down here; draw them away from whatever SWRZ is doing up there and try not to fuck up our operation completely.'

'Right,' the team responded.

'Don't hit the crates,' Geoffrey added. 'And nothing too big or flashy. We don't want to set anything in this place off.'

'Roger,' the team said, switching to military vernacular for a moment as they shifted their stances, ready to spring forward.

'Right,' Geoffrey said, steeling himself as he saw masked faunus, all of them now armed, run in the direction of the stairs or point guns up at the gallery. 'Move, now.'

Immediately the entirety of Team GOLD leapt out of their cover and picked their targets. Careful to make sure there was no chance he would detonate anything volatile, Geoffrey aimed Phalanx at one of the Red Fang standing on the access frame that covered the Dust-hauler and fired a pair of stun rounds. The masked faunus fell immediately, dropping the machine gun he had been aiming at the gallery above.

Team GOLD had emerged without a sound and it took several seconds for the Red Fang to notice they were now under attack. In that time Lily and Darius had sprinted forward and brought down a Red Fang fighter each, restraining themselves to prevent inflicting terrible injuries to the faunus. Olivia, meanwhile, had thrown herself into the air and dive bombed onto a cluster of faunus, flattening one of them to the floor and knocking three more aside before swinging her sabre around and hitting a fifth fighter.

By the time the Red Fang were able to give a warning about Team GOLD's assault, nine Red Fang members were down and Team Gold was rushing forward to subdue the rest. Geoffrey didn't slow down as a group of masked Red Fang fighters armed with automatic pistols and machetes ran around a stack of crates. Raising his shield and bracing his arm, he barrelled forward and crashed into the group, channelling his Aura to force them aside. He felt the impact as he rammed into the faunus, pushing against the resistance for a second before his enhanced strength forced them back. He wasn't sure whether or not the Red Fang group had tried to push back but it didn't matter as he ran them all down, pushing and swinging his shield to finally unbalance them all completely.

He took several seconds to subdue the group he had just knocked down, beating them with the haft of Phalanx until he was sure they were unconscious. None of them had the time to properly secure the criminals they had just apprehended so the entire team were moving quickly. The sooner they defeated the group the less their chances of the Red Fang recovering and trying to escape.

Team Gold continued to sweep through the Red Fang forces, both sides careful and conscious of the explosives and other sensitive materials piled around them. They had yet to clear a noticeable divide in the hanger though, a barrier of crates and the immense bulk of the Dust-hauler hiding the majority of the building from access and view. Geoffrey risked a glance up at the gallery to see whatever fight was taking place there was still ongoing. There were flashes from weapons up on the balcony and he could make out which of the figures were Team SWRZ's members but he had no idea who their opponents were.

'Geoffrey,' the voice of Olivia shouted, snapping Geoffrey out of his musings just in time to see a flash of light streaking towards him. He raised his shield just in time to block the beam and grunted as he felt the force impact against his defences.

Looking in the direction that attack had come from, a glare on his face, Geoffrey saw a figure standing on top of the Dust-hauler. It was a tall faunus woman with long ginger hair and dark skin. She was dressed in a different outfit than the other Red Fang with dark trousers, a white shirt that exposed her stomach and a long brown overcoat. Her mask was also unique, shaped like a snarling Grimm-like big cat that covered much of her head except for an opening at the front for her mouth, another at the back for her hair and two smaller ones for a pair of orange and black furred tiger ears. On her right arm was a metallic box attached to a bracer that was raised in a guard position.

'Laal,' Geoffrey rumbled. He was sure this woman was the Red Fang's leader, matching every description the police had given them.

The woman said nothing in response, merely snarling at them and then flicking her wrist. A beam of dark red plasma burst out of the nozzle at the front of the box on her arm and then stopped, forming a long, curved blade of energy. In an instant she was in the air, leaping off of the Dust-hauler and at Olivia who was hovering in the air nearby. Aanjay Laal twisted in the air and slashed out at the other faunus girl with her plasma blade, striking Olivia before she could react. Olivia's Aura held but she cried out in pain as she was knocked out of the air and crashed down onto a stack of crates beneath her.

Aanjay landed in a crouch and immediately exploded into a leap at Geoffrey. He just managed to raise Phalanx to absorb her strike. Realising what he was doing, she span in mid-air and landed feet first on the shield at an angle. She then pushed off of it, leaping back and unbalancing Geoffrey as she did so. Geoffrey stumbled a moment before finding his feet again and then aimed his trident at her as she landed several metres in front of him. He fired two shots but the faunus woman simply dodged aside, running behind a stack of crates.

'Don't lose her,' Geoffrey shouted.

'Get everything out of here,' Aanjay shouted in response from somewhere behind the crate piles. Geoffrey blinked before her words registered and he turned back to the rest of the hanger.

The sound of engines gunning soon filled the building and he saw the Dust-hauler lurch forward, Red Fang members running to leap onto the support frame. The group were making their escape now and he had been too distracted engaging their fighters to see the other faunus who had been readying to leave.

"Got to get past her," Geoffrey thought, barely suppressing a hiss from passing his lips as he saw Aanjay place herself between his team and the retreating Red Fang. "Olivia's down, Lily can't use her hammer."

'Darius,' Geoffrey shouted. 'Stop the hauler.'

'Right,' his team member said in response. He then set off, running around Aanjay and weaving through the stacks of crates, using his Aura to leap onto and over them.

Aanjay snarled in response and fired her weapon, the blade of plasma shooting out and hitting Darius before he can dodge. Darius was sent flying through the air by the power of the blast and collides with the opposite wall. Grimacing in anger, Geoffrey fired Phalanx at her before she could redeploy her weapon's blade function again. Once again, Aanjay twisted on the spot and avoided the shot just as she reignited her blade again.

It was then that Lily shot forward, leaping over the debris that Olivia was lying in from her injuries. The dark-skinned girl swung her hammer in an arc as she landed in front of Aanjay and connected her weapon with the energy blade. Despite the risk, Lily had charged Vulkan's energy transmitter. Light flashed as Vulkan's suppressed Dust energy interacted with the plasma blade and threatened to blind Geoffrey. He blinked for a moment to see the glare was already weakening, revealing that both combatants had been thrown back by the blast. Whilst Lily had crashed into several boxes which had splintered from the impact of her armoured body whilst Aanjay had landed on her back in an empty stretch of the hanger's floor, exactly where the back of the Dust-hauler had been a moment ago.

'They're gone,' Geoffrey snapped, turning to see the centre of the warehouse was clear of vehicles. Looking away from where Aanjay lay he saw the end of the Dust-hauler as it carefully made its way out of the building. The smaller cars and trucks had were mostly gone as well, only a few that were stuck behind the Dust-hauler remained in the warehouse.

It was then that Aanjay leapt to her feet and stood between the retreating Red Fang and Team GOLD. She had her weapon still deployed and her mouth was open in a viciously insane snarl, her teeth all showing. She seemed to hiss with anger as she glared at Geoffrey through her mask. Geoffrey responded with his own glare, standing his ground and adopting a guard stance. He risked a glance at his teammates to see that Lily was still on her feet. Darius was up but unsteady and looked like he had taken a nasty blow and Olivia was still down on the ground and barely moving.

Looking back and forth between her opponents, Aanjay stood her ground, the snarl still on her face. Without any warning she then shot forward, almost becoming a blur as she ran towards Geoffrey. He raised his shield and lashed out with Phalanx. Aanjay dodged the strike, leaping into the air and landing on the shield at an angle. Pushing down, she leapt back into the air in the direction of Lily, overbalancing Geoffrey and causing him to take a step back in an effort to reorient himself.

Lily brought her hammer up to block Aanjay as she swiped down with her plasma blade. The haft of the warhammer managed to hold up against the heat of Aanjay's blade but Lily was now locked in place as she struggled to withstand the intensity of the attack. Aanjay touched back down on the ground, driving Lily back and then pulled her blade away, ducked down and swept her right leg at Lily's feet. Lily managed to hop out of the way but found herself back on the defensive as Aanjay loomed forward and attempted to stab with her blade. Lily dodged again but the next strike hit her. Aanjay grinned manically the moment her blade connected with Lily's Aura and then fired her weapon, the bolt of plasma sending the armoured girl flying back and into several crates.

Geoffrey had recovered by that point and rushed forward to defend his teammate, charging at Aanjay as she moved to finish Lily off. Holding back from letting out a warcry and alerting his opponent, Geoffrey thundered forward, Aureus up and Phalanx held ready to strike. Aanjay reignited her weapon just as Geoffrey hit her and brought it round in an arc to hit him. With his broad shield up, Geoffrey weathered the blow and thrust forward with his trident, still moving forward. Aanjay twisted out of the way of Phalanx but found herself off balance as Geoffrey barrelled into her, his shield pushing her back. Instead of falling over Aanjay was able to hop back and keep her feet but she was now on the defensive.

Geoffrey continued to push her back, noticing Darius had found his feet again and was running to support him. It was then that Aanjay span on the spot and then away from him, stepping to the side. Not wanting to let her regain the advantage, Geoffrey swung out with Aureus. He managed to knock her, clipping her right arm as she raised it to guard against the strike.

Darius arrived a second later, swinging his own blade, Ultima, at her in a wide arc. Aanjay just managed to duck under the greatsword and swiped at Darius' legs with her weapon. Darius took the blow, grunting in discomfort as his Aura absorbed the force of the blow but failed to prevent all of it from hitting him. Taking a step back he moved out of the way of Aanjay's next low strike but by then Aanjay had straightened out again and kicked high, catching Darius in his left shoulder. Not wasting a second, Aanjay lashed out the moment her feet were back on the ground and hit Darius again, her plasma blade raking across his collar.

Darius fell back and took another hit, Aanjay moving like a blur as she rained blows down on him. Geoffrey moved in and struck with Phalanx just in time to prevent an Aura shattering blow from connecting with Darius but the damage had been done Aanjay turned to meet Geoffrey but kicked out, almost absently, to knock Darius to the ground. As Darius hit the ground hard, Aanjay brought her weapon up in an arc that aimed to slash up from Geoffrey's groin to his collar. Geoffrey stepped back and blocked the blow with his shield once again, hitting back with his trident at the same time. It was then, just as Aanjay was ready to advance again that a figure fell from the gallery above the hanger.

Geoffrey grinned as he saw Selene leap down onto Aanjay, her gauntlets activated and sparking with power. Aanjay gave a look of panic for a second as she tried to leap out of the way and barely dodged the strike, hitting the floor and then rolling forward, tucking her head into her chest and coming back to her feet. She turned to look at her new opponents and hissed again, several growls also escaping her mouth as the previous feral snarl twisted the visible portions of her face again.

Geoffrey saw Rex and Wilhelm join them from the upper levels, hitting the ground and taking aggressive stances as they flanked their leader. Wilhelm risked a glance at his brother Darius and then grimaced, a snarl appearing on his face that almost matched Aanjay's for its intensity. Geoffrey took position beside the other team as well, his shield raised once again.

'What happened up there?' Geoffrey asked as he gave an aside glance to Selene.

'Ran into some people,' Selene explained. 'Rex made the first move and we had to bring them down. I think they're students, most were human.'

Geoffrey didn't say anything else as Aanjay growled in anger and swung her weapon. She fired the blade at the same time, turning the blot of plasma into a wide, thin projectile blade again that shot out at the entire group. Geoffrey slammed Aureus in front of him and activated his Semblance as the energy hit him. He felt the blade hit his shield and pushed back against the impact, seeing the others dodge out of its path.

The instant he corrected his stance again Aanjay was leaping at him, feet first, for another kick. This time Geoffrey held his shield back and thrust Phalanx forward. Aanjay corrected herself, just managing to twist in the air and land in a crouch by his side, her back to Selene. Selene, seeing the chance, stabbed down with her claws but Aanjay span on the ground, trying to sweep Selene's legs from under her. Selene was able to leap up and dodge the strike, landing back down in place and striking down at Aanjay again as Geoffrey did the same with his own weapon.

On the defensive, Aanjay rolled away once again and leapt up to her feet, barely wasting a second as she lashed out instantly and managed to hit Selene's gauntlets but did no damage. Rex and Wilhelm had also moved forward to join the fight and swung their weapons, moving in synchronicity and weaving their weapons around one another with practised ease. Backing away from the whirlwind of metal, Aanjay made several swipes at the two boys but was unable to land any blows.

Selene made her move at that time, lunging at Aanjay with both her fists raised and jabbing forward. Aanjay dodged out of the way but found she was being pushed towards Wilhelm and Rex who had slowed down but still had their weapons in motion. Hissing again, Aanjay made a feint at Selene, forcing her to go on guard and step back. Aanjay then corrected her stance and aimed a thrust at Wilhelm and Rex. She was aiming for their weapons and interrupted the careful series of movements they had been performing. Wilhelm was the first to go off balance, Rex simply forcing his way past the disruption. Aanjay, meanwhile, capitalised on the pause in the duo's attack and lashed out again at Wilhelm, knocking him back and then leapt into the air, aiming a kick at Rex who moved out of the way but also lost his momentum.

With her opponents' field of attack now scattered, Aanjay once again began to focus on one opponent, landing on the ground and leaping up at Wilhelm, knocking his mace aside and punching him hard with her free hand. Wilhelm was unable to block the blow and fell back, staying on his feet but disoriented and unable block a slash from her weapon that sent him sprawling onto the ground.

Turning away, Aanjay brought her blade up just in time to block Selene's claws. The SWRZ team leader then pulled her left hand back, keeping her right pressing down on Aanjay and then brought a strong hook at her. Aanjay took the blow as it hit her in the stomach and was forced back, curling slightly from the impact. She straightened up again and hopped back several more steps before bringing her weapon back and then lunging forward. Selene raised her arms into a guard position, a confident grin on her face and prepared to strike back. The instant she was about to hit Aanjay fired her blade at the other girl.

Selene took the brunt of the shot, surprised by the attack and fell over. Thankfully, she rolled with the force of the impact and got back to her feet but Aanjay was moving faster than ever before. The faunus woman's feet were already sweeping for Selene's legs, finally catching her off guard. Selene toppled over again as Aanjay pushed herself off of the floor and onto her feet, her weapon reigniting again. She jumped at Wilhelm who had once again stepped forward to engage her and slashed at him, the first blow being a feint. The left hook following after her blade was an intentional strike though and connected with the boy's face as he pulled out of the way of the first swipe. Wilhelm fell over and Aanjay jumped up and brought both of her feet down on his collar and head. There was a flash of dim light as Wilhelm's Aura gave way and the boy lay prone on the floor.

It was then that Rex intervened, the massive boy thundering forward with a savage warcry and bringing both of his axes at Aanjay in alternating swings. Aanjay just managed to duck out of the way of the chain-axes and was put back on the defensive as she stepped back away from Rex's flurry of blades. Aanjay tried to return with strikes of her own but Rex's reach held her at bay and she was unable to retaliate. Geoffrey decided now was the time to intervene and ran forward to support Rex, taking position behind the two and cutting off Aanjay's retreat.

Aanjay noticed and moved to break out of the trap she was being forced into, leaping high into the air with a push from her Aura and firing a plasma bolt at Rex who took the blast and stood his ground. Rex immediately recovered with little sign of taking any damage and returned to swiping at Aanjay as she landed behind him and reignited her blade. Instead of trying to attack Rex again instead she ran in the direction of Selene. Geoffrey aimed Phalanx and fired another shot. Aanjay dodged them once again but the effort slowed her and allowed Selene to take the stance she needed to attack as the Red Fang leader approached.

Selene struck with surprising speed, her fists flying and colliding with Aanjay before the other girl could take a more protective stance. Aanjay flew back as Selene's gauntlets, wreathed in lightning, struck her repeatedly. Aanjay was thrown back and hit the floor, failing to recover properly and had to scramble back to her feet. Back on the offensive, Selene pressed her advantage and ran forward again, ducking down and kicking out to try to sweep Aanjay's feet from under her as the faunus girl had done to so many others. Aanjay leapt back again, dodging the attack and then pounced forward the moment her feet touched the ground, swiping at Selene with her plasma blade again and catching Selene before she could regain her stance. Selene fell back with a short cry of pain but was unharmed, her Aura holding and Aanjay continued, several feral, animalistic growls coming for her mouth as she rained one blow after another down on Selene who rushed to try to block them.

Aanjay hammered a particularly large blow down on Selene that stalled her and in that time Aanjay raised her right leg and kicked out, hitting Selene in the chest and sending her back into a support strut attached to the wall. The strut gave way, Selene hitting the wall just behind it. Just as Selene was about to get up an ominous snap and rumble echoed just above her and the gallery she was now under began to slump down. Selene leapt forward just as the section of balcony gave way and collapsed down onto the floor of the hanger in a shower of wood, plaster and rusted iron.

Geoffrey ran at Aanjay as she and Selene re-engaged once again. The two girls were dancing around one another, their weapons flying and clashing repeatedly. The balance of the fight shifted once again when Aanjay ferociously threw herself at Selene and grabbed her arms. The two grappled for a second as Geoffrey rushed to support Selene but in the few seconds it took to reach them Aanjay pulled her head back and then rammed her forehead into Selene's nose. She then did it again and again until she pushed against Selene, who was now somewhat disoriented by the strikes and fired a plasma bolt at her. Selene fell back and hit the ground hard as Aanjay ignited another blade with barely a pause.

Geoffrey stopped a few metres away from Aanjay and went over to Selene, helping her up. Rex had come over to join him and, with Selene back on her feet, the three of them took a guarded position as they waited to make another move. A quick glance over to the rubble of the collapsed balcony revealed several figures, four of which were on the floor. Zarina Ocula was amongst them but she was on her feet, her quarterstaff raised and ready to strike Aanjay from behind.

It was then, as Aanjay crouched slightly to prepare to strike, that a dark figure stepped out from the shadow, making their presence known. Everyone turned as they finally noticed the new arrival and Geoffrey's eyes widened as he realised who it was that was approaching them all.

'Back away,' the voice of Nox Skye sounded, reverberating in his helmet as he strode towards Aanjay Laal. 'You've done enough.'

* * *

Greta couldn't believe what was happening right in front of her eyes. After spending what seemed like an eternity stewing in her own terrified thoughts, her ruminations on what would happen once the police arrived had been interrupted by the floor giving way beneath her and sending her, her team and their captor down onto the hanger beneath them. She had endured a rain of rubble that, with her Aura still depleted, had been much more painful than usual and she was sure she had suffered a couple of bone fractures in places.

Now she was watching a fight between the teams she had been following for the last month and a Red Fang leader who had quickly and easily beaten down the girl who had defeated her. Now a new guy in dark armour and a skull faced mask had appeared and dismissed teams GOLD and SWRZ, or what was left of them, and seemed to be taking their place.

"Oh gods," Greta thought as the dark, armoured figure finally registered in her memory. "That's Nox Skye."

Greta couldn't believe she was seeing one of the most controversial figures that was currently alive stride in front of her and stand in front of a member of one of the most notorious terrorist groups in Vale. Though she wasn't that attentive to the news she knew who Nox Skye was and what he looked like, enough news stories having featured his face and his distinctive armour to make him very recognisable.

'Aanjay Laal,' Nox said as he stood across from the Red Fang fighter, the faunus woman letting out another snarl as he did so. 'We've been looking for you for quite some time now. You may have bought enough time for your comrades to escape but bringing you in will do more than enough damage to your cause.'

The woman, Aanjay didn't reply to him, merely hissing in anger and bringing her weapon, a blade of plasma, up and into a striking stance. Nox took a more relaxed stance, reaching down and drawing a long, elegant katana from a scabbard on his hip. He then raised it in front of him, his feet taking a firm position and stared the woman down, barely moving a muscle. The members of teams GOLD and SWRZ who were still standing were waiting nearby, every one of them also on guard and ready to move if they needed to.

Aanjay was the first to move, leaping forward with an animalistic cry, her blade flashing out. Nox barely seemed to move but his own blade came up and managed to block the arcing plasma that had been flying towards him. Aanjay was forced to stop as her weapon halted in front of Nox who barely seemed to have reacted to her.

Surprised and infuriated, Aanjay stepped back and out of reach of a return strike and span around to aim another blow at the larger man. Once again, Nox made only the smallest movement and his blade was blocking hers without moving back an inch from the impact. Nox finally turned to look at her, the eyes of his mask boring into the faunus woman who grimaced in response. Aanjay cried again, the noise coming from her mouth barely sounding human and began to rain blows down on Nox like she had all of the other opponents she had faced before him.

Greta was stunned as she watched the two fighters. No matter what Aanjay did and no matter how quickly she moved Nox Skye was able to counter and block her strikes with ease. The two seemed to blur with Aanjay attempting to lash out at him whilst Nox barely moved, staying in place and only adjusting his stance a little in order to catch every one of her attempts to hit him. Finally Nox changed his stance, leaning forward when he blocked another blow from Aanjay and pushed forward sending the faunus girl skidding back and almost knocking her over with the force of his exertion.

Frustrated, Aanjay let out a final, screeching cry of anger and fired her blade at him. A bolt of plasma shot out of the device on her arm and headed towards Nox who simply raised his free hand. Suddenly the bolt halted in the air right in front of Nox's face and stayed in place, crackling and hissing with energy that was struggling to escape. With another push of his hand, Nox then sent the bolt back at Aanjay who was stunned by the display, too stunned to notice her own attack was heading back towards her. Aanjay took the bolt in the chest and was sent flying back into the wall behind her, leaving a noticeable dent in the brick surface.

Greta turned to try to catch the Red Fang girl and was just able to see her through some of the twisted rubble. Her position on the ground and the way the cuffs were designed prevented her from moving without causing extreme discomfort. Her crash landing onto the floor had already wrenched her arms in a painful direction and she didn't want to aggravate it further. From where she could see her, Aanjay seemed to be breathing heavily and her cat-like Grimm mask was loose on her face. Aanjay took a moment to fasten the clasps on the mask, hissing in anger and then pushed herself out of the indent she had made in the wall.

'Human,' Aanjay snapped, her voice now equal parts rage and hysteria. 'Don't think your fancy tricks can frighten me. I am Aanjay Laal. I was born into the Red Fang, raised to be its greatest weapon. I was made to kill and I will no matter what or who dares to stand in my way. Everyone knows my name. Everyone fears it.'

'Not everyone,' Nox rumbled in return, the words taking on a sinister echo through his mask. 'How does that feel?'

Aanjay visibly seethed at the older man and launched herself forward with a feral screech, her weapon ignited and flaring as if her fury was fuelling it. Nox simply raised his hand at her and pushed. Aanjay stopped, hung in the air for a heartbeat and then was launched back and up, into the air and through a window that led to the outside.

'Damn,' Nox muttered, almost inaudible as he calmly put his hand back to his side. 'We can't let her escape,' he then barked to the students behind him. 'You lot, with me.'

With that Nox and the standing remnants of teams GOLD and SWRZ left. Greta saw several of the older students stop to risk glances at their unconscious or injured teammates, one even stopped to check on the mace wielder boy who was lying prone on the ground. A sharp call from Nox snapped them out of their hesitation and they followed after him, leaving Team GRAP alone in the warehouse.

'We might be able to find something to get us out,' Greta whispered, mostly to herself as she looked around to see if there was any means of escape. Getting out probably wouldn't spare them all from accusations and eyewitness testimonies by the people who had just left the building but it wouldn't hurt their chances either.

As she wriggled in place, the cuffs pulling at her arms and digging into her wrists, Greta's fleeting hopes quickly died down. There was nothing she could reach and her own inability to move was quickly making it clear that even if she found anything that could help her there was no chance she would be able to use it.

It was then that she saw something stick out of the rubble. It was a simple sheet of paper that was just next to her head but it was the words that caught her attention. She could make out the words "Dust-hauler, Agricultural District, South Wall, Basilikos Construction" and the date "11/15/1462." Wriggling towards the paper, Greta reached out with her head and clamped her teeth down on the paper.

Greta then wriggled onto her side until she could see Peter who was also lying on the ground dejectedly and wincing in pain from the noticeable bruises on his body. She grunted through the paper in her mouth until she had his attention and then spat it at him. The paper fluttered forward a few inches and then landed on the ground barely a foot away from her.

'Uh, do you think you can grab that?' Greta asked sheepishly, now feeling very foolish.

Peter blinked at her a couple of times and then comprehension flashed in his eyes as he looked down at the sheet of paper. 'I think I can try something,' he said with a little apprehension.

Greta watched her partner wriggle about until he was on his side and could clearly see the paper. He then shut his eyes and a look of intense concentration appeared on his face. Greta wasn't sure what was happening but she saw a light, silvery light surround him, indicating at least a little of his Aura had recovered. Electricity filled the air in front of her and sparks appeared around the paper. The sparks soon turned into small electrical charges that arced about the paper and then, in a flash of bluish light similar to the kind that Peter made when he teleported, the paper was gone.

Peter opened his eyes, suddenly appearing very weary. He wriggled half-heartedly and then turned over, showing a sheet of paper in his hands.

'Is this it?' he asked.

'Uh, yeah, I think so,' Greta replied.

'Right,' Peter said. He then began to crush and crumple the paper in his hands. Greta was confused and a little shocked at what he was doing until he surrounded it in his Aura again and flashed it away.

'It's… yes, it's in my pocket,' Peter then said.

Greta sighed in relief and then flopped back down, her chin resting on the floor as she relaxed and tried to ignore the pinching from the cuffs holding her wrists and ankles in place. A loud thud heralded the return of Nox Skye and the older teams following him. Greta could see they were angry and they didn't have Aanjay Laal with them.

Apprehension and fear once again filled Greta as she began to speculate on what would happen to her. She was still in police captivity and apparently Nox Skye, one of the most terrifying figures currently alive was involved. She tried not to squirm as the approaching figures all looked down at her and her team. If they didn't have the Red Fang then they would have to take their place. Greta had no idea what would happen now but it was clear that absolutely none of it would be good.


	12. Chapter Twelve: What Happens Now

**Chapter** **Twelve** **:** **We're** **In Trouble** **:**

 **November** **10** **th** **1462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

Elena Skye was both annoyed and concerned as she sat on the roof overlooking the massive flattened section of buildings around a warehouse complex and the small army of police forces that had made camp in it as they searched the area. GRAP had failed to keep in contact, any attempt to call them after she, her brother and Team TEAL had failed to find anything having been ignored. They had been about to head in the direction Team GRAP had gone when they saw a mass mobilisation of the Vale Police heading to that section of the District anyway. The instant they realised what was happening she and Edmund had rushed over, neither of needing to say anything to the other as they knew what was going on.

It hadn't taken them long to track the police, both of them having a lot of experience following military forces whilst avoiding detection. What they weren't as sure about was what they would do now that they had found where the police were operating. They had even been able to sneak into the police occupation zone and took up position within a deformed and broken but still largely intact ruin that offered cover, a decent elevated view and didn't look like it was going to be checked by the police if they didn't draw attention to it.

Aside from perimeter guards none of the police had moved out of the cleared section of the area and were all converging on the warehouse at the centre. It was obvious to anyone who saw them that the building complex was the police's objective. What concerned Elena and Edmund as they watched the heavily armed droids and officers move back and forth was where Team GRAP were. She didn't know if they had been caught, if they were free but trapped or if they were even injured. With her dad involved, and she knew he was, it was hard to tell.

'Do you see anything?' she asked Edmund, not turning away from the police droids as they scurried around beneath her.

'Nothing specific,' Edmund replied. He was looking around just as intently as she was.

'Tell me if anything comes up,' Elena said in response. 'We either see GRAP or we see a way to get in there.'

The two of them then settled back into position, covertly scanning the area for any signs of their missing comrades. For several minutes nothing came up though Elena did notice that there were very few faunus prisoners in police custody. She didn't know if that meant that some of the Red Fang had escaped or if the organisation wasn't actually as big as the pundits and newscasters made it to be but a part of her was glad to see that she couldn't find anyone from GRAP amongst their number.

'Hang on,' Edmund suddenly said. 'I think I see dad.'

Elena perked up and turned in the direction her brother had been looking. She peered through the clusters of patrolling police droids and then finally saw a dark figure stalking amongst them. It was in fact her father, Nox Skye. He was dressed in his full battle armour still but she could tell by the intimidating energy in his stance that he had seen combat and was frustrated with whatever had happened in the fight. Behind him were a group of brightly armoured people, four of whom were walking whilst carrying or helping four others.

'Yep,' Elena said, 'That's him alright. Do you see anything else.'

'Not yet,' Edmund replied. 'There's nothing new yet but… wait,' he suddenly paused and peered forward again. 'I see… yes, I see Team GRAP.'

Once again Elena followed her brother's gaze and finally found the younger students they had set out from Beacon with. It took a couple of seconds but she soon found them, following after a pair of officers. It was hard to see real details but she could see their hands behind their backs like they were bound and that they all had slumped, submissive body postures.

'Great,' Elena groaned, her right hand coming up to cover her face.

'Do you think we should do something,' Edmund asked, turning to look at her. One glance at her brother's face indicated that he was somewhat torn about the situation. They barely knew those guys but she and her team had been in similar situations and she didn't want to see people she had just punished because of something she had suggested and supported.

Elena deliberated her actions for several seconds as she saw the police handle Team GRAP. She wasn't really sure what she even could do if she decided to try to help them. She could try to hijack whatever vehicle they would be sent to but they would probably still be on record. If Vale was anywhere near Vacuo in the intensity of its policing – which it obviously wasn't as Vacuo would have ended the crime war much sooner – then they would either already have been booked or were just about to be.

'Hey,' Elena then said to her brother, making a decision. 'How do you feel about taking a really long shot?'

'Well,' Edmund said as he became even more thoughtful. 'We've done it before and it's worked, but I really don't know about this one. Do you really think it's worth it?'

Elena looked back at GRAP and then nodded to herself. 'Yes. I do.'

She quickly explained her plan. Edmund frowned as she finished.

'That… sounds like a terrible idea,' he said.

'Yeah, well we don't have Juan with us so that's the best you'll get,' Elena replied.

Edmund sighed, before adjusting his belt. 'Fine,' he said, 'but on your head be it if we get in trouble with Dad.'

'Eh, what's the worst he can do?' Elena asked. 'Toss me in the cells again?'

'Expel you,' Edmund reminded her.

'He wouldn't,' Elena snorted. 'Might hobble yours and Obi's chance at the tournament, and we all know he wants you guys to bring it home for Vacuo.'

Edmund sighed. 'Let's just get on with it.'

* * *

The plan had been simple enough when they first went over it. Despite not having much time, Elena had worked out how they were going to break Team GRAP free. It was a method they had used before on occasion, usually whenever Elena did get caught by the guards during her excursions into the excluded zones or after curfew. A lot of it relied on confidence but after dealing with the often military guard forces her father had set up, Elena was very good at projecting confidence and surety. She and her brother had marched into the police zone with all the professionalism of officiated agents that were actually supposed to be in the quarantined zone.

The plan had required that they slip past the patrolling Knights as they didn't actually have authorisation and wouldn't be able to bluff the droids. Looking nonchalant as they tried to make it through the very narrow gap in the robot's surveillance net was difficult but they had pulled it off without breaking their composure. Now that they were in it was much easier to move around the occupation zone.

Edmund gave Elena a quick questioning glance that Elena was immediately able to pick up on. He was probably wondering if they would be able to find Team GRAP or not. They had lost sight of them quite a while ago and whilst they were moving in the direction it had looked like they were being led, they could be anywhere by this point. Still, they had a starting point and there was no reason they shouldn't start there. As long as they looked like they knew where they were going the police wouldn't ask if they were actually supposed to be there.

'Can I help you two?' a calm, even and coldly professional voice suddenly called out from behind them.

The twins turned to see an armoured Valesian police officer was addressing them. The policeman was frowning as he looked them up and down, trying to assess them and make his own conclusions about who they were and what they were doing in the quarantined zone.

'Ah, perfect,' Elena said, putting on her most purposeful and confident tone as she quickly formulated a script. She and Edmund had gone over their cover story and were both ready to deal with men like this one. 'We're Elena and Edmund Skye, student liaisons for Shade Academy. We were supposed to assist in this operation but were waylaid at Beacon Academy and ended up at the wrong position. We're here to help in prisoner apprehension and interrogation as part of the cooperation between the Valesian police force and the Vacuite guard contingent attached to this mission.'

The guard stared back at them for a moment, one of his eyebrows quirking as he studied them. It was clear that he wasn't buying what she was telling him. Elena was just about to open her mouth again and continue her bluff when Edmund leaned forward instead.

'We're Nox Skye's children,' Edmund said in a matter of fact tone. 'We were sent here to assist him in the investigation.'

'Really?' the officer drawled, scepticism evident in his tone and facial expression. 'You mind giving me some proof?'

'Of course,' Edmund said in response as he stepped forward. He took out his Shade student ID and showed it to the other man. Elena did the same, flashing the card with its Academy watermark which was impossible to falsify or replicate.

'Alright,' the officer said, frowning as he looked over the IDs. 'You're definitely who you say you are but you still haven't convinced me that you're supposed to be here.'

'We were called directly by our father,' Elena quickly countered. 'Do you really want to contradict Nox Skye?'

'Nox Skye doesn't run Vale,' the officer quickly grumbled, his frown becoming a grimace.

'No but he was allowed to get involved in this investigation,' Edmund replied. 'He is also currently affiliated with Beacon Academy which does have authority over police operations. Nox Skye is here on behalf of Beacon and so are we.'

The officer's grimace turned back into a frown and then back to a grimace again. After a quick sigh that Elena almost missed and then a groan of frustration the officer handed back their IDs.

'Fine,' the officer conceded. 'What are you here for?'

'We're here to deal with the prisoners that were taken during the operation,' Elena said without pause. She stood still, matching the officer's gaze as he once again analysed them for any signs of deception.

'This way then,' the officer replied after several seconds. He then walked forward and past the twins, indicating for them to follow.

Edmund gave Elena a quick glance and nodded to her, receiving one in turn. They needed to back one another up more than ever now that they had actually been noticed and confronted by the Valesian police. Thanks to their fast talking they now had a guide who, in theory, would take them right to Team GRAP. That is, if he didn't just take them directly to their father first. The risk was acceptable and it wouldn't be the first time she had faced her father after infiltrating a police controlled zone but things were different this time. Now other people were involved.

She kept her facial expression calm and almost professional as she and her brother walked through what was rapidly looking more and more like an army encampment. Now that the droids had set up a perimeter and the mechs had been parked a logistical train had moved in and set up supply depots, portable detainment cells for prisoners and even what looked like some kind of temporary barracks for the human and faunus officers.

To Elena's surprise, they were both led past the barracks and to another prefab structure that had been set up. There were few Valesian police or droids nearby and Elena swore she could see some of the Vacuite guards her father had brought along.

"So this is where he's set up base," Elena thought as she took everything in.

One of the Vacuite guards noticed them approached and though Elena couldn't see past his fully enclosing helmet she knew he recognised her and her brother. The guard turned to another who walked towards the prefab building and then turned back to them.

'Halt,' the guard called out. 'State your intentions.'

'I've got Edmund and Elena Skye with me,' the officer said in response. 'They said that Nox Skye asked for them.'

Elena suddenly felt a little nervous. She had dealt with situations like this before but it was always the most difficult. The guards all knew that her father had a tendency to make unilateral decisions and would keep those orders to himself, especially where his children were concerned. Most had simply come to accept that if the Skye twins showed up, their father would want them, either for the reason they claimed or to deal with them personally if they weren't. There was, however, always a small chance that they would ask for some verification, just to be safe professionally.

'Very well,' the guard said after a lengthy pause. 'Leave them with us.'

The Valesian officer nodded and then walked off, mumbling grumpily and inaudibly to himself. Elena kept up her poker face and struggled not to sigh in relief. The hardest part of their infiltration seemed to be over but something could easily go wrong.

'Alright,' the guard in front of them said as he looked them over, 'come with me.'

Together they walked over to the prefab. Elena had no idea where they were being taken but was already coming up with the ways she could at least get herself and Edmund out of the occupied zone. There weren't any Bullheads or other vehicles that could be hijacked but they could probably find something if they did have to run for it.

'May I ask what your father wanted with you?' the guard asked as he reached forward and opened the door to the prefab, directing them in.

'Dad wanted us to pick up any special prisoners he took,' Elena said as she stood in the doorway, carefully picking her words.

'Them?' the guard replied, confirming the twin's suspicion. 'Right this way.'

They stepped inside, the guard following after them and then standing by the door. He nodded in the direction of a door at the other end of a long room with several folded tables and chairs scattered around. She looked to Edmund who nodded at her and then stepped forward towards the door. Edmund grasped the handle and then pulled it, opening the door and letting her in.

The instant her brother opened the door, Elena let out a small gasp of surprise. Team GRAP were sitting inside, their hands tied behind their backs to their chairs and forlorn expressions on their faces as they all looked forward in front of themselves. Greta Hexenpfahl looked absolutely terrified, like she was about to cry, the faunus girl Rapture scowled but looked like she was struggling to keep the expression from collapsing into a look of horror and the two rich kids, Peter and Aurora were terrified, their heads bowed and their eyes on the surface of the table they sat behind.

Elena didn't say anything, keeping her face calm and then looked around. When she saw there were no cameras or similar devices, she stepped inside, Edmund following after her and shutting the door.

'What happened to you?' she asked, keeping her voice low.

Greta looked up at her and blinked, as if she was just realising she was in the room. 'What are you doing here?' Greta asked, her voice cracking a little.

'We hadn't heard from you and came to see if something went wrong?' Edmund replied, a sympathetic frown on his face as he stepped forward. 'What happened?'

Greta looked down at the table and the rest of the team looked away, unwilling to make eye contact with anyone. Elena gave a worried look to Edmund who returned it with a nod. Neither tried to press the younger students in front of them but time was short and they needed to know what they could do to help.

'We...' Greta began for a second before going silent again. 'We found the Fang. We got caught by Team SWRZ and then Nox Skye showed up.'

'Did anyone else see you?' Edmund then asked, pressing the issue.

'Team GOLD,' Peter Hamlin answered, still not looking at them. He didn't look scared anymore, just strangely angry.

'Is that it?' Edmund continued. 'What about police? Have you been booked, or scanned or anything like that?'

'A couple of police saw us but they just threw us in here,' Peter replied.

'Oh good,' Elena said. 'That means you're off the record and we can get you out of here.'

'What!?' Rapture said as she and the rest of Team GRAP looked up at them.

'We're here to get you out,' Elena replied.

'How?' Greta asked, looking completely disbelieving as she stared up at them.

'Yeah,' Aurora interrupted in a harsh, sarcastic tone. 'If you can't tell we're tied up, surrounded by police and your father is here.'

'Don't worry,' Elena said in response, careful confidence entering her voice. 'We have a plan.'

'Oh?' another voice, deep and cold, rumbled. 'And what would that plan entail?'

Elena managed not to jump in shock as she immediately recognised her father's voice. Instead she fixed a passive expression onto her face and turned as slowly and deliberately as possible. She could see Team GRAP had all turned pale and some of them, particularly Greta and Rapture, were shaking a little as they too realised who had just joined them in the room.

'Hi Dad,' Elena said in the tone she usually gave him when he caught her causing trouble.

'I'm expecting a particularly good excuse this time,' Nox said, his glare intensifying. He had removed his helmet before he entered the building, allowing him to level the full force of his intimidating presence on everyone in the room. Elena was surprised at how, despite his surprisingly youthful looks and long hair, he was able to terrify anyone in sight. The scar that ran down his face, past his left eye, wrinkled as he narrowed his eyes at his children. At the same time the yellow tint in his eyes seemed to brighten.

He'd been working tonight.

'Listen,' Elena said as seriously as she could. 'Before you start I've got to say that none of this is what it looked like.'

'Is that so,' Nox replied, cutting her off. 'I have four Beacon students currently in front of me who were found trespassing in a police quarantine zone and interfering in an important police investigation. Now how would you suggest that this isn't what it looks like?'

'While that is true,' Elena conceded, quickly trying to redirect the conversation, 'it wasn't their fault.'

'Really?' Nox rumbled. Elena had been on the receiving end of several lectures and some of the intimidating interrogations he usually subjected minor criminals to and she was used to them; but it was situations like this that reminded her that her father was a military and authoritarian leader.

'Yeah,' Elena replied with as much confidence as possible. 'It was my idea.'

'Your idea?' Nox repeated, his eyes narrowing.

'Yeah. They'd been attacked by the Red Fang before at those bombings,' she continued, composing as many believable half-truths as she could into a coherent story. 'I overheard them, told them I wanted to fight the Fang and forced them to come with me.'

'You forced them?' Nox asked sceptically, an eyebrow rising as he looked past her to the younger students who shrank back from him.

'Yeah,' Elena said, careful not to stutter or speak too quickly and give away the lie. 'They knew some things about what was going on here and I told them to take me.'

'So why were they separated from you?' Nox then countered, focusing on her again.

'Well we told them to help us find the Fang once we actually got here,' Elena explained, giving an embarrassed smile. 'It looks like they found it before us and ran into you. We came here to, um, well, explain everything to you.'

Nox stared at her and then at Edmund as he judged what she had said to him. He then looked behind them both at Team GRAP. He then frowned, Elena noticing a slight roll of his eyes as he thought over what she had said. It was clear that her father knew there was more than what she was telling him but he seemed to be accepting the face value of her excuses and lies. Elena tried not to smile a little as he gave the characteristic partial shrug she knew signified that he was going to go indulge her, whether he believed it or not.

'They are Beacon students,' Nox said as he fixed his cold, intimidating expression back on his face. 'I will be expected to deliver them to their headmaster. I am sure your testimony will be _invaluable_ when that happens.'

Elena let out a small sigh of relief at her father's words, despite the emphasis he made on her participation in the explanation to the Beacon staff. Despite herself she did turn and give a look at Team GRAP that she hoped was reassuring. They didn't seem to notice, having returned to looking at the table surface, walls or each other with looks of panic on their face. Despite being saved from the police they were still going to stand trial before someone and unlike her or her brother it wasn't going to be with someone who was their influential relative.

* * *

'So,' Professor Smith began as he glowered down at Greta from his seat in front of her. 'You defied a police quarantine zone, entered an area you knew was going to see open combat between police forces and known, dangerous criminals and fought back against sanctioned student agents.'

Greta was sat down in front of a small metal table not unlike the one she had been restrained to when the police had arrested her. She wasn't tied to the cold metal chair or table this time but she actually felt more scared than when she was in Nox Skye's custody. After being brought back to Beacon by the Vacuite leader she had immediately been given over to the professors and lift to stew in her own fear in this room for the past half an hour before Professor Smith had arrived and immediately read her crimes to her.

'I...' Greta tried to stutter, her throat and mouth feeling dry. 'Uh, yes.'

'Yes?' Smith repeated in the same tone. 'Yes, what?'

'I… I did that,' Greta admitted.

'That's good,' Smith finally said, his tone remaining the same and a frown still on his face. 'You know what you've done but do you realise the severity of your actions?'

Greta nodded, causing Professor Smith to sigh before continuing. 'I hope you do. You have interfered with a vital police investigation that the Council is heavily involved with. Not only that; a government official of another, allied kingdom was also present and assisting the police. You and your team helped interrupt and jeopardise the entire operation and may have contributed to the escape of a dangerous criminal as well as the injury of several exchange students from another kingdom. This is a very, very serious matter.'

Greta paled and tried to hold back a couple of terrified sobs. She could feel tears coming as she realised where the professor was going with his statements. He was making it clear just how much trouble she was in and then he would give her the punishment that was waiting behind the list of crimes.

'The least we are supposed to do is expel you from Beacon immediately,' Professor Smith said after another pause and a small sigh. 'I can't say what will happen to you after that but the police may use the right to charge you with interfering with an operation. This may draw much more serious consequences for you and your team.'

Greta couldn't speak, in fact she could barely think as the professor's words registered. It was worse than she could have possibly feared. She was being punished. Her team was being punished and all because of her. What's more the police and the Council wanted to punish her as well. Her life was over, she was getting kicked out of Beacon and now she was going to be tried by the government itself.

'I...' she tried to stammer out. 'I'm… sorry.'

'I'm sure you are,' Professor Smith said in response. His tone had softened and he sounded much more sympathetic. His frown had become depressed rather than angry and he was looking her in the eyes as he spoke. 'I'm sure you're very sorry for what you've done to yourself and your team. Do you understand what all of this means? You're not just responsible for yourself. When you were made a team leader those three became your responsibility as well and anything you did would reflect on them.'

'I'm sorry,' Greta whimpered. It seemed to be all that she could say.

Professor Smith's face fell further as he looked at her. 'I'm not here to play down the consequences of your actions here. Nor am I going trying to terrify you with exaggerations. Everything I have said to you is a fact. You need to know that what you did was a crime, a serious crime and that it can't just be ignored.'

'I...' Greta was just about to let out another apology when she heard the door to the room open again.

'I'm sorry I'm late,' the voice of Professor Arc said, sounding more serious than she had ever heard it. He stepped into the light, a frown on his face, and took a spot beside Professor Smith. 'I was held up by Nox Skye. Apparently he had more information about this… incident. I can take it from here, John'

'Now,' Jaune said as he turned and fixed Greta with a frown. 'Elena Skye told me and her father that she had found you talking about the Red Fang. Is that true?'

'Y… yes,' Greta said, still feeling nervous and confused. She remembered Elena taking the blame but there couldn't have been any chance that she was being taken seriously.

'Did she then confront you and demand that you tell her everything you know about them?' Professor Arc asked.

'Uh, y… yes,' Greta squeaked out. Professor Arc seemed to accept that, nodding and making a look of contemplation.

'According to Elena Skye she then demanded you and your team help her enter the Old Residential District in the north and track down the Red Fang with her and her brother,' Professor Arc continued. 'Her confession, with the support of Nox Skye, could mean you were coerced into committing the crimes you've been accused with.'

'Sir?' Greta tried to speak, completely confused on what was happening now.

'Since Nox claimed control over the mission, making it an unorthodox operation; and everyone in the warehouse you were apprehended in was technically under his command at the time, he is also the one responsible for levelling charges against you.' Professor Arc then stared at her, his eyes boring into her own. 'He's also dismissing them as well.'

Greta blinked for a moment as she registered the headmaster's words. She could barely believe what was being said to her and it seemed she wasn't the only one. Professor Smith looked frustrated, though not apparently with her, he seemed to be directing a look at Professor Arc instead.

'Since the police aren't charging you with anything you won't be tried as a criminal by the Council,' Professor Arc continued. 'We, however, will have to deal with you. You've broken a lot of rules and overstepped a lot of boundaries as a Huntress in training. Not only that but you put your entire team at risk because of this. Elena Skye has told us that it was her fault and that she forced you to follow her but you still agreed to go along with her.'

Greta shrank back in her seat again as Professor Arc stared down at her. He seemed strangely intimidating. It was only now that she realised that the headmaster was a war veteran, the man who had led the charge during the Witch War. The distant school headmaster that she recognised him as had now been replaced by a tall man frowning down at her. Was this what it was like to be his enemy during then. Even though he wasn't giving her a particularly nasty look she had never felt more scared than she did right now. Only her first experience with a Grimm could possibly match the fear she was feeling.

'I'm not going to expel you for this but you and your team are currently suspended until the next semester,' Professor Arc said. 'You will be allowed to participate in the Vytal Festival but if I catch you doing anything remotely like this again you will be kicked out of this school. Am I understood?'

'Yes sir,' Greta said as quickly as she could, a cold sweat running down her forehead.

'Good,' Professor Arc said in response. 'You can return to your dorm now.'

'Thank you sir,' Greta replied as she shot out of her seat and scurried out of the room, giving a few hurried thanks and apologies to the professors.

Once she was out she ran back to the dorms, threw the door to her room open and locked herself in the attached bathroom, barely acknowledging her friends as she sprinted past them. The moment the lock clicked she slumped down to the floor and threw her head into her hands, choking back several sobs. Greta ignored the knocking on the door behind her as the professor's words repeated in her head over and over. Going after the Red Fang was the biggest mistake she had ever made and this was the consequence of it.

* * *

'Do you really believe the Skye girl?' John Smith asked Jaune as the two of them left the office they had conducted their briefing in. Jaune didn't like doing these kinds of things to his students but Greta Hexenpfahl's crimes were very severe. He couldn't actually remember a student who had done the things she and her team had that hadn't then been expelled immediately.

'Not really,' Jaune admitted. 'Half the time she was lying. She was good at it though.'

I thought so,' John said as the two of them entered the elevator and hit the button for Jaune's office.

They stayed in silence as the floors ticked by. When the doors opened, Jaune nodded to his friend and stepped through them into his office. Nox Skye was already there, standing at the other end of the room, looking through the massive window towards the city beyond the plateau.

'Nox,' Jaune called out in greeting, trying to sound as friendly as possible.

'Arc,' Nox called back, turning around and giving a slight nod. He had his helmet off and was frowning at them but it was a much more relaxed and pensive expression than usual.

'Have a seat Nox,' Jaune said. 'We've got a lot to talk about.'

Nox Skye, thankfully, did walk around to one of the seats that emerged from a panel in the floor. John went over to another that rose out next to the first whilst Jaune strode towards his desk and took his seat as well. He sighed as he leaned back in it and slapped the desk as he settled into his chair, activating the holographic function by accident and lighting the surface up with icons for a moment.

'Alright Nox,' Jaune said. 'I've dealt with my students and they won't be punished. You've taken a big risk dropping the charges. The Council isn't just going to come after me when the police tell them what we've done. They'll be demanding some kind of explanation from you as well.'

'I will be taking responsibility for the operation and what I've done with the prisoners we took during its execution,' Nox intoned, narrowing his eyes and deepening his frown. 'What I do with them is my business. If I decide to let them go and give them to you to handle there's nothing they should expect from me.'

'The Council will expect someone to pay for the mistakes that were made today,' John countered.

'Yes,' Nox agreed, turning to the deputy headmaster as he did so. 'My daughter claimed responsibility and as a citizen of Vacuo she is under my jurisdiction. As Patriarch and acting headmaster of Shade, I will give her whatever punishment I deem appropriate.'

'Of course you will,' John replied, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Jaune saw Nox's frown turn into a glower.

'Moving on,' Jaune interrupted before the argument could flare up again. 'How much of the Red Fang were you able to catch?'

'A large contingent broke through our perimeter with a small army,' Nox admitted. 'We have captured enough equipment to fight a war and it looks like we only got a fraction of what they possessed. Laal got away as well.'

'Do you think that was the fault of our students stumbling into the operation?' Jaune asked.

'Hard to say,' Nox replied, frowning as he thought over the information he had received from the police. 'They already had an ambush force prepared at an area of the containment ring. Laal may have been apprehended if your students hadn't been on the scene but it was the Atlesians who attacked first and gave themselves away.'

'How are GOLD and SWRZ?' John then said, a hint of concern on his face.

'Most of them are in the care of the police,' Jaune answered. 'They'll be transferred to our infirmary soon. They weren't hurt that badly but it helps to be careful.'

'And what about your students?' Nox then asked, his voice deepening again.

'Well thanks to your daughter we were able to let them off with a suspension,' Jaune said. 'We'll have to be careful with them though. One more step out of line and the Council will be demanding we hand them over to them. This war with the Red Fang has gone on too long for most of them. Most of the current chair-holders are also seeing pressure from the opposition. Some think they're being too lenient and others want them to stop the fighting.'

'It's turning into chaos,' John added with a sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Nox didn't comment, simply frowning and giving Jaune a look. It was obvious that he had plenty of criticisms about Vale, its government and the way Beacon was handling its relationship with them but he didn't seem to want to voice them directly. Jaune knew what he was saying and it seemed John had noticed as well.

The room turned to silence as the two Beacon professors looked at one another and then back at the Vacuite patriarch. 'Still,' Jaune said, finally breaking the silence. 'We have to make do with what we have. Nox, I appreciate what you've done for us tonight.'

'It was of no consequence,' Nox replied, waving Jaune's comment away. 'I will remain involved in this operation as long as I am here.'

'Well we still have to wait for the paperwork for the festival to process anyway,' Jaune said in response, his shoulders slumped and his face in a grimace.

'Then I will be here for some time,' Nox continued. 'And I will be making the most of my time here.

* * *

'Well this evening was an utter disaster,' Selene groaned as Geoffrey walked into his dorm. The SWRZ leader was already there but this time the two of them were alone.

The rest of their teams were being seen to by the medical staff of Beacon. Most only had minor injuries but Professor Arc had insisted they get proper care. He and Selene had, at least, been able to pull enough rank to get a quicker check up and return to their rooms but it seemed Selene wanted to talk with him.

'Can I help you?' Geoffrey asked. He was feeling incredibly tired and bruised from the fight but tried to keep his tone professional, if not friendly.

'A little,' Selene replied. Her own voice was light and a little casual and playful but Geoffrey could see the exhaustion in her features and the way she was lying back over one of the beds in the room. 'I was checking some things out on the way back here. I think you might be interested.'

'Oh?' Geoffrey said as he walked in, took off the plates of his armour, exposing the environmental jumpsuit he wore underneath. He was too tired to really pay full attention to his fellow team leader but he continued to listen as he released the clasps.

'Team GRAP of Beacon,' Selene began, holding her scroll out, the screen fully extended out to display the information. There were four pictures on it with small boxes of text next to them. Geoffrey immediately recognised them as the four students they had arrested and then witnessed being released by Nox Skye.

'What of them?' Geoffrey said as he walked over to his bed and sat down on it.

'They're all rather interesting people,' Selene answered, her voice turning slightly sly as she smirked. Despite being familiar with the look, Geoffrey always found it rather enigmatic.

'How so?' Geoffrey responded, humouring the conversation.

'Greta Hexenpfahl,' Selene replied as she pressed on the top photo and enlarged it, showing a girl with dark hair and a prominent nose. 'Team leader, armed with some kind of mecha-shift flame-based spear and an orphan from the Magnus Children's Home.'

Selene paused and glanced at Geoffrey. Picking up on the prompt Geoffrey decided to reply. 'An orphan?'

'Yeah; and what's really interesting is why,' Selene said, her grin dropping into a more serious expression. She pressed on her scroll's screen several more times. 'Her parents were reported to have been killed when she was three. A murder suicide, the father killing the mother and then himself. She spent the rest of the time in an orphanage.'

'Okay,' Geoffrey said, surprised that someone with such a difficult history could have managed to scrape their way into Beacon.

'Then there's Rapture Brostein,' Selene continued, bringing up a picture of a faunus that Geoffrey could only just guess was a girl. She was covered in dark green, scaly plates. The image was rather offputting on a strangely visceral level that Geoffrey couldn't really place, feeling too familiar and yet more alien, even compared to other faunus.

'Born and raised in the Zultan District,' Selene continued. She then frowned and looked directly at Geoffrey. 'It's a faunus ghetto and a no-go zone for emergency services. It's apparently considered a miracle if they even get half of the residents to actually pay their taxes every year. Gangs run most of the area and anyone who isn't involved with them has to pay protection.'

'Disgusting,' Geoffrey rumbled, shocked at the level of disorder. Atlas would never countenance such a thing existing in their borders. Even the forsaken and decrepit shadow of Mantle, for all of its shortcomings, was more orderly than that.'

'Even Olivia would call these degenerates animals,' Selene sneered. 'Moving on, then.'

'Just where are you going with this?' Geoffrey asked in a clipped tone.

'Patience,' Selene almost sang to him, drawing the word out. 'I'm just providing the evidence for my case.'

Geoffrey sighed and settled down on his bed. He could see that Selene was excited about whatever it was she had discovered and she waiting to build up her proposition, almost theatrically constructing her proposal or hypothesis, whichever it turned out to be.

'Aurora Basilikos doesn't seem to have much on her,' Selene said. She was frowning again but this time it seemed to be a result of disappointment. 'Nothing really outstanding from her; at least as far as her personal files seem to be concerned.'

'Okay,' Geoffrey said, now starting to suspect the conclusion Selene was leading to.

'Peter Hamlin, however,' Selene let out a breath as she raised her eyebrows at Geoffrey. 'Well we all know what his family have done. He's apparently the first one of them in a long time to go into a military based career and the first ever to try a Huntsman Academy.'

'I think I know where you're going with this,' Geoffrey said now that Selene was finished reading through the profiles. 'You think they're more dangerous than they let on.'

'Sort of,' Selene replied with a shrug of her shoulders. 'They all have something shady in their backgrounds… Well except for Basilikos but enough time with her teammates could change that.'

'Okay,' Geoffrey said. 'And is there anything more to support that other than some family circumstances that can barely be connected to them?'

'Not really,' Selene admitted. 'I do think it's worth keeping this in mind though. They did a very good job getting past a police quarantine and tracked down the Red Fang. I don't exactly think that's normal behaviour; especially for freshmen students. Do you?'

'No,' Geoffrey said in response with a sigh. 'It seems a bit much. Especially since Beacon is handling them now. It's out of our hands. Besides, they're going to the Vytal Festival. We wouldn't be able to keep an eye on them if we wanted to.'

'Ah, yes,' Selene said, leaning back on the bed and almost throwing herself onto her back again. 'Shame we can't go. I really wanted to take part.'

'Duty comes first,' Geoffrey immediately replied. 'In the name of the king.'

'You're still saying that?' Selene asked as she quickly sat back up again. Giving him a questioning look. 'Grandfather was never king.'

'He was for a short time and I will never forget that,' Geoffrey replied in all seriousness. He would always acknowledge what Regnus Lupina had done for the country and the humility he displayed when he stepped down. 'You should do the same. He is your family.'

'That's why I don't think of him like that,' Selene shot back. 'If he's anything other than my grandfather he's the headmaster. I'm not going to remind about the three months he spent as regent every time I see him. I don't want to. He doesn't want me to. That's it.'

'Fine,' Geoffrey conceded. 'Never mind.'

'Oh I won't,' Selene replied, her tone becoming playful again as she stood up from the bed. 'I'll see you tomorrow.'

With that Selene walked out of the room, shutting the door. Now that he was alone again, Geoffrey stewed on what they had talked about. He had been surprised about a student team sneaking into their operation, more because they had been able to get so far without being caught than anything else. He had never considered the actual possibility of student infiltration, an oversight on his part but one he knew he would be forgiven for in any evaluation. It was far too unlikely to happen; though, of course, that hadn't stopped it actually happening anyway.

Geoffrey pondered his options once again. Nox Skye would still be overseeing their mission now and he knew full well what they were actually up to. If the chase for the Red Fang was finished and he was still in the kingdom he would probably accelerate their schedule. Nothing had been coming up in regards to the Society anyway, even with the records of the weapons shipments they had found in the warehouse now available to him. Officially the people who had made the deliveries were a series of dummy buyers who had either been found dead or disappeared after the guns had been bought.

He weighed the possible choices in his mind. Selene had presented an interesting, if largely baseless investigation on a potential disruptive element for their mission. Their original objective, however, was still unfulfilled and needed more work now that they were running out of leads again.

'Duty comes first,' Geoffrey muttered to himself as he made his decision. The original mission took priority and they would stick to it. 'In the name of the king.'


	13. Chapter Thirteen: The Consequences

**Chapter** **T** **hirteen** **:** **D** **ealing With Consequences** **:**

 **November** **1** **1** **th** **1** **462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

Greta sighed again as she grabbed another gingerbread man off of a two foot stack she had managed to successfully pile onto a plate in a relatively straight pillar that managed to remain upright. She had completely emptied the cafeteria's stalls to the annoyance of a lunchlady who had caught her after she had managed to pile everything on and was walking away. The older woman hadn't called after her but she could feel her eyes boring into her back as she left. Despite noticing it, Greta really didn't care.

She had barely gotten any sleep that night and, unlike most Saturdays, had been woken up early. Greta hadn't dreamt about anything but she could feel a cold sweat all over her body the moment her eyes had opened. Several hours had been spent lying there in bed as her teammates tossed and turned. After lying in place for what felt like hours, trying her hardest to get back to sleep or, at the very least, distract herself, she gave up and got out of bed.

After going through her usual morning routine Greta had then proceeded to grab her small mountain of comfort food and was slowly chewing her way through it. She still had trouble thinking straight but thankfully she wasn't completely terrified of getting expelled. Now she just felt depressed and tired. After the interrogation by Nox Skye, one of the most terrifying figures currently alive, and the telling off she had received from the headmaster and deputy headmaster, Greta didn't want to do anything that might cause her to step out of line. For now, she was just going to sit in place and wait until the dull sensation in her mouth from too much sugar and ginger disappeared and she could actually taste her food again.

Letting out a sigh and resting her cheek on her left hand as she leaned over the table, Greta pulled another gingerbread man off of the top of the pile and began to gnaw on it. Looking up for an instant as she spotted movement, Greta then saw Tom and Lach walking up to her, both of them wearing concerned looks.

'Hello Greta,' Tom called cautiously as he walked over to them.

Greta stared at them for a second before finally replying. 'Hey guys.'

'Can we have a seat?' Lach asked as he approached her, grabbing one of the chairs anyway.

'Go ahead,' Greta said, her tone still sounding despondent as she waved a dismissive hand.

'So,' Lach began as he sat down and put his hands on the table in front of her, 'how are ya holdin' up?'

Greta raised her head, letting the arm she had been resting it on fall onto the table. 'Not good,' she replied as she turned to look at them.

'Um, we're really sorry,' Tom said. 'We really are. We should have tried to find you. We should have...'

'What?' Greta interrupted, speaking a little louder and frowning at him. 'Should have what?'

'I, uh, well,' Tom faltered as Greta stared him. 'We should have… tried to help.'

'Right,' Greta said non-committally. She honestly felt unsure how to feel about what Tom had said.

'I, uh, yeah,' Tom replied, looking lost. 'We, um, we heard about what happened when you got back.'

'Really?' Greta asked, actually feeling upset again.

'It kinda got spread around after Nox Skye brought ya in and Professor Smith took ya to his office,' Lach added somewhat sheepishly.

Greta groaned, whatever strength she had suddenly leaving her. She slumped forward onto the table slowly, her arms dangling over the edge and her collar and cheek resting on the table surface. She saw Tom give Lach a concerned look again but ignored it as she focused on the fact that rumours would probably start spreading very, very quickly.

'How did you guys get back anyway?' Greta immediately asked, wanting to change the subject and distract herself.

'Well, we, um, we were able to get past the cordon,' Tom replied, speaking in a quieter tone. 'There weren't that many people on the way back.'

'I think we were able ta catch a ship back ta Beacon about an hour after you got brought in,' Lach said. 'Had ta tell the guards we had a night out on the town. Took a while ta convince 'em since Nox Skye seemed ta have 'em all on their toes or somethin'.'

It was then that Lach got up and walked around the table, taking a seat next to her. Greta raised her head back up as she felt Lach reach out and put an arm around her shoulder. She felt a little confused as she saw him giver her a small, sympathetic smile.

'Listen, I know Tom already said it on all our behalf but, I'm sorry,' Lach said to her, shaking her a little friendlily. 'We shoulda been there with you. The reason we went with you was to help you out with all of this and we messed up. I just want you to know that no matter what we'll be here with ya and we're not gonna let ya down if we have anythin' ta say about it.'

'Thanks,' Greta said, giving him a weak smile. She didn't really feel reassured or helped by what he had said but didn't want to appear ungrateful.

'No seriously,' Lach pressed on, apparently noticing her insincerity. 'We're here for ya; whenever ya need us. No-one gets left behind on my watch.'

Greta looked back at him as he seemed to stare at her with a surprising intensity. She was taken aback by the sincerity in his eyes and paused as she tried to process what had just been said to her. Startled from her depressed stupor, she looked to Tom, feeling confused and found he was giving her a similar look.

'Th… thanks, guys,' she said, still confused but genuinely grateful.

'Think nothin' of it,' Lach replied, his smile now a little brighter. 'Like I said. We're here for ya.'

'Thanks, guys,' Greta repeated, settling back in her seat. She still reached out and pulled another gingerbread man from the pile and began to eat it.

'Are you really going to eat all of those?' Tom asked, looking at the stack of baked goods with a little trepidation.

'Probably,' Greta replied. She still wanted a little comfort to help with what she had gone through the night before. There was still a knot in her stomach that felt like panic though it was a bit weaker than any other uncomfortable sensation she had experienced in the last few hours.

'Can I have one?' Lach asked.

Greta thought over the question for a moment. She didn't really want to share, even if the food still tasted monotonous after eating so many at once. At the same time they had tried to help her feel better and she could see Tom was also giving her a questioning gaze that had a bit of noticeable eagerness behind it.

'Uh, sure, go ahead guys,' Greta said. Smiling a little more strongly, Tom and Lach both grabbed several off the pile at once, causing it to wobble a little from so many being removed at the same time.

'So,' Tom said as they all settled down and began eating. 'Do you guys have any plans for today?'

* * *

Rapture sat down on her bed as she mulled over her thoughts. The others were all out of the room and even she had left earlier in the morning. She had, however, returned after an awkward shower and breakfast. The reason she had decided to stay indoors, in her room, was because of something she had mostly forgotten about in the past few weeks. The looks she received from people.

For nearly the entirety of her life she had been aware of the fact that people were unnerved by her looks. She was a human shaped girl, covered in hard, leathery scales that were definitely not human, not even close. After so many years with humans and even other, more human, faunus who had features that were easier to hide or accept, she had largely stopped caring. She noticed but she didn't really react that much and just went along with the fact that people were scared of her appearance.

For the past few weeks, however, things had been a little bit different. Her team and, to a lesser extent, Team TEAL had gotten used to her, didn't react negatively to her presence and had helped her forget how people normally acted around her. After spending nearly all of her time with them it was easy. For a second she wondered if the fact that all of her friends were human and had therefore never really worried about these kinds of things was the reason she had stopped noticing as well.

When Nox Skye had brought them back to Beacon in a military airship, flanked by his armoured guards and with his massive, intimidating figure leading the way every member of Team GRAP had been more nervous than ever before. It had been evening when they arrived, on a Friday; a time when students from every year would go to the aerodocks in anticipation of a night out in the city. That meant there had been hundreds of people, many of them from their classes, who had witnessed them get paraded out of the ship, hands still cuffed, and then handed over to a waiting and incredibly angry Professor Smith.

Rapture remembered that everyone in her team, when they hadn't been looking at the floor, were nervously glancing around at all of the people staring at them. Whether it was a subconscious act or just an accident, Rapture had done the same and immediately seen the looks of shock, concern and perverse fascination, expressions she was all too familiar with. She wasn't sure exactly why, but this time the looks had cut her deeper than they had in a very long time.

Groaning, Rapture put her hands over her face ad began to rub. Her fingers dug into her scalp as she ran them through her hair and she began to dig them in, trying to get the thoughts out of her head through the slight pricks of pain to the crown of her head.

'Come,' on she mumbled to herself. 'You're over this. Forget it.'

Giving up, Rapture threw her hands back down and sighed heavily. 'What is wrong with me?' she groaned again, knocking the back of her head against the headboard of the bed. She did it several more times before giving up after hammering a dull ache into the back of her skull. She didn't have anyone to talk to and didn't want to talk about her problems this time. She just wanted to forget about them again but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't get the memories out of the forefront of her mind.

Rapture threw her feet off the bed, turning so that she could lift herself to her feet. Frowning, she narrowed her eyes and went over to one of the shelves in the room and bent down to scrutinise the items lined up on them. It was a series of movie digicard boxes.

'Oh gods, this is pathetic,' Rapture mumbled as she pulled one of the boxes out and opened it.

Their room didn't have a proper television but the hologram port for their scrolls did also have a slot for digicards that accepted all types. Plugging her scroll into the port she slotted the digicard in the appropriate opening and sat back down on her bed, waiting for both machines to boot up. As the film's menu began to appear she settled down, hoping that it would distract her from the previous evening and the faces she couldn't get her out of her mind.

Rapture wasn't in the mood for any of her usual selections. She had instead picked out some kind of comedy Greta owned, hoping that she could at least start laughing. Selecting "play" on the menu she leant back, trying to get comfortable and preparing to relax, hoping that it was even possible this time.

* * *

Aurora sighed through her nose as she settled back in a chair in an isolated corner of Beacon's library. She had spent the last few hours feeling glances on her back wherever she walked. She wasn't sure if people really were watching her or if she was just being paranoid but the sensation wouldn't leave her. With the winter holiday now so close few students were using the library, other than to return books they had been using for the end-of-semester exams and essays, she had sought sanctuary in the facility.

Still, she hadn't felt secure until she was able to find a table in one the emptier portions of the library and had picked a seat in the corner that ensured she had her back to a wall. She hadn't seen more than a couple of people pass her by since then and though she knew that none of them looked at her, she had still felt uncomfortable.

Aurora had a book lying in front of her on the table but she wasn't paying attention to it. It was something she had randomly picked from a shelf in the literature section in an attempt to appear nonchalant as she tried to judge how people were reacting to her presence. Sighing, she picked up the text and began to idly scanning it, running her eyes over the words on the page but not really registering what they said. She was just trying to distract herself now and it wasn't working as her mind continued to focus on the disaster that their excursion into the Old Residential District had been.

"Don't think about it," Aurora said in her mind, repeating it like a mantra and gripping the pages of the book tighter and tighter. "Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think abou… Oh fuck everyone who made me go there yesterday!"

Aurora grimaced as she did her best not to hiss out what she was thinking. She was about to slam the book down on the table when her scroll began to vibrate, causing her to shriek in shock as she was jolted from her thoughts. Pulling out her scroll, Aurora saw she had gotten a text. A moment later, she saw that people had appeared, drawn by her sudden outcry. Flushing with embarrassment, Aurora showed them her scroll, indicating that it was the cause and that everything was alright. Several of the onlookers glanced at one another but quickly left once it was clear that nothing was wrong.

Pulling open her scroll Aurora checked the text message readout. She froze for an instant as she saw that the user ID told her that it was from her father.

"Aurora," it read. "We need to have a talk. Call me via videomessage immediately after receiving this message. Stefan Basilikos."

It was short, curt and to the point and Aurora knew that it would lead to serious trouble if she ignored it. Knowing her father, he would expect a private conversation as well which meant she would need to go to the CCT for this call. Sighing in resignation, she got up from her seat and walked out of the library. The staff would see to her book and whilst a part of her wanted to delay, it would only just make the inevitable talk more difficult.

The walk over to the CCT was quick, Aurora avoiding any actual distractions as she tried to imagine what her parents would have to say and what she should say in return. She made it into the elevator, which was thankfully empty and strode out when it arrived on the right floor. Instead of looking to find an available terminal herself, Aurora walked over to a large semi-circular desk that was built into the wall, a door in the wall inside the enclosed ring allowing access for members of staff.

Good morning,' a young man wearing the CCT staff uniform said with a smile as he saw Aurora step up to the edge of the desk. 'How can I help you?'

'I would like a private terminal, please,' Aurora said, holding out her student ID.

'Alright then,' the man replied as he opened up a holographic computer screen. 'If you'll just give me a moment, I'll see which terminals are available.'

Aurora waited as he brought up a list of rooms and began to select through them. As he worked she began to think over what her parents were going to say. She knew it was going to be about her actions the previous day. Her parents would know about it even if she and her team hadn't been charged with anything and they would expect some kind of explanation or apology.

'Right,' the attendant then said. 'We have Terminal 2C open at the moment. Would you like me to book you in?'

'Yes, thank you,' Aurora replied. 'I'd like to use it right now.'

'Alright,' the attendant said, returning to the screen. 'There we go. It should be available to you. Would you mind scanning in your ID to prepare it for you.'

Aurora flashed her student ID under one of the scanners, seeing it flash green to indicate it had accepted her details. She then thanked the attendant and set off to the section of the building that held the private terminals. She passed the normal, open terminal stations until she was on the other side of the room and found a series of large booths with transparent glass walls and terminals centred within them.

Most of them already had people in them so it didn't take Aurora very long time to find her booked terminal. Flashing her ID in front of the door, it unlocked and opened for her, letting her in and shutting the door once she was clear of the entrance. The terminal also activated, lighting up and projecting an interactive display for her. Sighing, Aurora finally sat down in the chair in front of the terminal. Plugging her scroll into a port, she transferred her contact information and brought up her father's number, ready to make the call.

She hesitated as her finger hovered over the shining call button for a second before finally pressing it. The screen instantly switched to the call menu as it initialised. Aurora felt her stomach churn a little as it quickly accepted her parent's contact information and connected to them.

'Aurora?' a masculine voice spoke as the image cleared.

'Hello, father,' Aurora replied, keeping her voice calm and fixing her face into a stoic expression.

Stefan Basilikos was a man of middling years who still looked quite young and well kept for his age. He had sharp but mature features that were usually softened by a natural smile that Aurora had almost always seen him wear. His skin was somewhat darker than hers but he had brown hair, similar to hers, which he grew down to his shoulders though he tied it back to make it appear tidy, and a small goatee on his chin. As Stefan looked Aurora in the eye she noticed his face was stuck in a stoic frown that seemed to bore into her even from the other side of the holographic screen. She could see he was also dressed in a dark business suit and red tie, showing that he was likely still at work. Aurora swallowed silently, worried at the implications of him focusing on a call from her whilst he was working.

'I'm glad you called me,' Stefan said with a heavy sigh. 'Your mother and I heard about what happened yesterday.'

'Yes,' another voice said in a stern tone as a woman stepped into the projector's view. 'We did.'

Aurora breathed sharply as she saw that her mother was going to be joining in on their talk. Naeva Basilikos was a tall and intimidating woman with piercing eyes, a pale but still healthy complexion and a face that whilst classically beautiful, was also sharp and aristocratic, giving her an authoritative appearance. Her hair was golden, hung down far past her shoulders and, unlike her husband, was left free to hang over her her back. A simple, black headband of shining metal coloured the same as Aurora's own headdress held her hair out of her forehead.. She was wearing a black, professional suit dress, indicating that she had been spending the day helping Stefan as well and had set aside whatever workload she had in order to participate in the conversation. Her entire stance exhibited a disciplined grace, the only evidence, aside from the look in her eyes, of her past as a Huntress. As it currently was, she was now fixing Aurora with a look that conveyed severe disappointment and concern.

'Hello mother,' Aurora greeted, keeping her voice level.

'Hello, Aurora,' Naeva replied, staring Aurora down with a frown. 'We've heard quite a lot about what you've been getting up to at Beacon lately.'

'I… I can explain,' Aurora stammered out, her voice hitching slightly.

'Good,' Stefan said. 'We were hoping for a proper explanation. The school has told us some rather outrageous things.'

'Aurora,' Naeva began, fixing her daughter with a heavy look. 'Why did you break into a police quarantine zone? What were you thinking?'

'I...' Aurora stammered nervously. 'I… I don't know where to start really. It all started weeks ago; barely after I got here.'

'What do you mean?' Stefan interrupted, now looking concerned. 'How long has this been going on for?'

'It's not what you think,' Aurora immediately insisted.

'Oh?' Naeva interrupted. 'Then what is it?'

'I… it's difficult to explain,' Aurora replied.

'We have time,' Naeva responded, her stern expression still on her face as if she was studying Aurora with it.

'It began with the Red Fang bombing of the mall in the Commercial District,' Aurora began, immediately noticing that her parents became more concerned. 'It wasn't much at first. I began reading about them. I think everyone else in my team did as well. Then it all died down; then it just seemed to come back.'

She looked back at her parents to see that they were listening and trying to digest what she was saying but still weren't understanding. 'Then… I, don't really know why we started actually trying to find them.' She realised she was lying, memories of Rapture telling her about her family coming to the front of her mind.

'So last night wasn't the first time you went looking for them?' Naeva asked in a level but angry tone, her stare boring into Aurora intensely.

'Yes,' Aurora admitted, averting her eyes. She didn't dare meet her parents' gazes while she said that. 'We went to Angela's Square after the Red Fang bombing there to see what had happened and we saw some students. They… well, they were...' she struggled not to wince at the admission. 'They were the people who apprehended us last night.'

'Really?' Naeva asked calmly.

'Yes,' Aurora continued. 'It was after we saw them that we decided to go into the district.'

There was no reply from her parents. Instead she saw her father sigh and put his head in his hands for a moment. Her mother didn't make a sound but raised her hand and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Aurora knew that this was her sign of annoyance and disappointment.

'Aurora,' her father said after he raised his head again. 'This is an incredibly serious issue. Why? Why would you go after those criminals? Was it because of your team? Did you just go along with them?'

'No,' Aurora immediately replied, quickly sounding frantic. 'I tried to get them to stop. I told them it was a terrible idea over and over. I tried to stop them going down to the square. Rapture just didn't listen to me.'

'Rapture,' Naeva interrupted. 'Your partner?'

Aurora froze for an instant, worried that she had just thrown her partner under the bus. She had told her parents about her team at the beginning of the semester and they knew about some of the trepidation she had felt about having a faunus partner. The feelings had gone away quickly but she had admitted them to her parents back then and she had no idea what they actually thought of Rapture after that, even with her later, more positive reports.

'Yes,' Aurora said carefully. 'She had been a bit… out of sorts after the first attack in the mall. She was very upset about the attack at the square as well and wanted to see it. We went over there and that was when we saw the students we later found out were involved with the police.'

'And how did you respond to that?' Naeva asked.

'I… well, I… um, tried to help her,' Aurora responded, her eyes flickering to the floor for a few seconds as she spoke.

'Did you support her?' Stefan then said, fixing her with a very intense frown.

'Well… I,' Aurora swallowed. 'I did.'

There was another pause from her parents, broken only by another tired sigh from her father. 'Aurora,' Naeva then said in a fatigued tone. 'It is important to support your partner in difficult situations but you're not supposed to follow them into a war zone. It would have been more responsible for you to keep her out of trouble. You do understand what all of this means for both you and her?'

'You said she was a faunus after all,' Stefan added. 'This will be far worse for her than it would ever be for you.'

'I know,' Aurora replied, frowning, 'and I understand.'

'Good,' Stefan conceded as he looked down at something and sighed again. 'This entire situation has caused a serious problem. The school has told us that no charges were made but they have also informed us of your suspension. This has left your mother and I rather concerned.'

'I… understand,' Aurora replied.

'I don't think you do, young lady,' Naeva immediately said in response, narrowing her eyes and glaring at her daughter. 'We were considering pulling you out of the school because of this. It was a miracle that you weren't charged with interference in a police operation. It would have been a disaster if you had actually been processed and the charges brought forward.'

Aurora froze at the announcement. She had thought of the possibility of being expelled or pulled from the school by her family but actually hearing it from her parents terrified her. She couldn't leave Beacon, this was what she had devoted her life to. She had no idea what she would actually do with herself if she got taken away from the Huntress path.

'I… you, you can't,' Aurora stuttered, speaking before her brain had properly caught up to her.

'We can,' Naeva answered, Stefan nodding along with her. They were both frowning now as they watched Aurora try to recompose herself. 'We were confident about your abilities during your earlier training but if this is what happens when you're away from our supervision then it's only right that we consider bringing you home.'

Naeva sighed, her frown morphing into a much more sympathetic expression. 'Being a Huntress comes with immense responsibility and this stage of your education depends on that. I understand what this means to you but this event is more than just some small mistake.'

'And neither of us wants to see you thrown into a prison cell,' Stefan added. 'I can't imagine what would happen to us if we saw you dragged before a Council tribunal for what happened.'

'I won't let it happen again,' Aurora quickly said, her panic and desperation now on her face. 'I promise. I really do.'

Her parents didn't react to her cutting them off other than to frown again. She watched as they turned to one another and gave significant looks between them. It took several seconds until they nodded in some form of agreement and turned back to look at her.

'It's alright, dear,' Stefan said. 'We aren't going to take you out of school.'

'If anything like this happens again though,' Naeva added, becoming stern once again. 'If we get another report from the school saying you've committed a crime, or done something to violate your suspension; we will seriously consider having you removed and brought back home. Do you understand?'

'Yes, mother,' Aurora immediately replied. 'Father.'

'I hope you do,' Stefan said with a small, encouraging smile. 'We'll probably be calling more often. Just to be safe.'

'I understand, father,' Aurora said, trying to give them a smile as well. 'Thank you.'

'It's alright, dear,' Stefan replied. 'Hopefully, if we get any news from the school, it will be positive.'

'Yes,' Aurora agreed, unable to think of anything else to say.

'We'll see you soon,' Naeva then added, now giving the same small smile as her husband as well. 'Probably at the Vytal Festival.'

'I'll see you then,' Aurora said in response, giving a genuine smile, albeit a weak one.

'We love you, dear,' Stefan said with a wave.

'I love you too father, mother,' Aurora said, waving at them in turn.

'Goodbye, Aurora,' Naeva said as she waved. 'And good luck with your lessons.'

'Goodbye,' Aurora repeated to them as she saw her father press a button that was off of the screen and end the call.

The image of her parents disappeared, leaving Aurora alone in the private booth. Her smile immediately vanished as her parents' words sank back in again. They had seriously considered taking her out of Beacon and it was still an option if she or her team messed up like they had the other day. Feeling cold she hugged herself a little, sitting in silence as she tried not to panic too much.

A huntress was everything that she wanted to be. She had trained for it her entire life, actually faced real danger and defeated because of said training and studied hard to qualify for the most prestigious academy in the entire history of Vale. Her mother had been a Huntress, had been her idol growing up and was the image that she had worked so hard to reach for. To hear the very same woman then suggest tearing her away from that path had been mortifying.

Letting out a breath she hadn't even realised she had been holding, Aurora got up out of her seat. She needed to take her mind off of it. Stepping out of the room and hearing it seal shut again behind her, Aurora set off out of the CCT building. She needed to take a walk, find someone to talk to, anything to help her forget what had just happened. She knew she wouldn't forget what her parents had said to her just now but a part of her wanted to run away from the horrible sensation it had just given her. Thought she had little idea of what she was looking for, Aurora walked out of the room, subconsciously heading in the direction of the dorms and her room, where she was most likely to find something friendly and distracting.

* * *

A mature Beowulf, armoured fragments covering portions of its body, fell on the floor, clawing at the knife embedded in its throat before it instantly collapsed into shadowy fragments of darkness. Peter fell where the Grimm had been, rolling as he hit the ground and grabbing the Allegro as he shot back to his feet and ran up to another Beowulf, an Adagio in his other hand.

Barely slowing at all, Peter leapt into the air and span, his sword lashing out at the Beowulf as it tried to lunge at him and slicing its throat open. The Grimm collapsed as it tried to paw at the injury and exploded into more fragments that faded away. It was then the black head of a large King Taijitu shot down at him. Peter flashed away, reappearing behind where the head struck as it impacted, burrowing into the floor slightly from the force of the strike. The white one had apparently anticipated such a move as it had been hovering over the area and, seeing that he had dodged the other head, came down on Peter with just as much force.

Looking up at the approaching Grimm, its mouth wide open and fangs bared, Peter used his Semblance to switch his Adagio out for another Allegro, flicking both of them into their handgun form and opened fire on the gaping orifice. Dust rounds struck the inside of the King Taijitu's mouth, hitting the sensitive roof and the back of the throat with terrifying precision. The Grimm reared back with a cry of pain as the black head pulled itself out of the ground and swept round to try to hit Peter on the ground.

Peter flashed away again, reappearing several metres away, just in time to cry out in shock as the stinger of a Deathstalker lashed out at him. He teleported again, appearing in the air and hanging there for a second. He fired his handguns again, aiming for the King Taijitu again. He had a much better chance of killing the snake Grimm than he did the massive, heavily armoured scorpion.

Flashing out of place again, Peter landed on top of the King Taijitu's body and began running along the undulating mass of scales, firing at the white head as he moved. He wasn't particularly used to this form of combat but the Allegro's were the only ranged option he had. It was only when he was a few metres away from the white head, which had swung around to face him, that he switched the gun in his right hand out for one of the Piccolo stakes, which he attached to the chain link in his sleeve. Before the snake could open its mouth to hiss at him, Peter threw the stake, the thruster inside the butt firing and rocketing it forward until it struck the King Taijitu in its left eye.

Peter gripped the chain attached to the stake as the white head reared back and let out a screech of pain. He was roughly yanked off of his feet and flung into the air but Peter kept a hold and then squeezed the chain, prompting the line to begin reeling the chain and stake back in. instead of pulling the stake free, the line pulled Peter forward towards the flailing Grimm, just as he planned.

Peter flipped in the air as he approached the head, making sure his feet were now out under him and hit the limb hard, almost trying to dig his feet into the scales. His left hand grabbed onto the head, getting a firm grip on the scales as his right hand pulled back, finally yanking the Piccolo and the eye it was embedded into out of the King Taijitu's skull. Flicking his wrist to force the pulped viscera of the ruined eye off of the stake, the material disintegrating, Peter switched the Piccolo out for an Allegro again. Converting it back into a handgun, he then jammed the weapon into the socket, even as the King Taijitu tried to throw him off, thrashing its head around wildly.

Struggling against the Grimm's efforts to dislodge him, Peter clung onto the King Taijitu's head as he dug the handgun deeper into the eye-socket. Once he thought he had gotten far enough, he began firing, pulling the trigger over and over again. The sharp thrust of the recoil slammed into his hand over and over as he fired one round after another, clearing past bone and then hitting the Grimm's brain. The white head let out a short cry that turned into a bizarre rattle and then it went limp, throwing Peter down to the ground. He rolled with the impact, arresting his momentum and bringing him up to a Beowulf that he dispatched with several, almost lazy shots.

The black head, still alive and now staring at Peter with what he was sure was a hated filled glare, loomed over him. The Deathstalker had also joined it along with close to a dozen Beowolves led by an armoured alpha. Peter, now quite exhausted and still recovering from the winding he had received from the bout with the King Taijitu's white head, crouched in readiness.

Suddenly the Grimm froze, just as they were about to lunge at him and a bell sounded. Peter slumped slightly in relief, fatigue and irritation as a loud voice announced to him. ' _Attention student, your allotted time has been expended. Please vacate the simulator._ '

The paused Grimm shimmered and faded away and bright lights came on, revealing a wide ring of opaque glass. The glass cleared, showing the crowd of students standing around the ring, several of which had disappointed looks of their own on their faces. They had been watching the session and it seemed that lien was also trading hands as well, causing even more disappointment and frustration. Some of the losers of these bets were shooting nasty looks his way, seemingly blaming him for their losses.

Peter put his Allegros away again and sighed as he straightened. He felt unbelievably tired now and was more than happy to be in such a state. He had taken the ring about an hour ago and locked himself inside. The sessions had started simple but every time he cleared them and wiped out the holographic Grimm he had increased the severity of the setting.

A moment ago, before he ran out of time, he had the simulator set to the highest possible setting he could authorize as a first year and it had finally proven to be too much. Granted, his state of exhaustion from the previous hour of constant combat might have had some influence on his abilities but he was fully aware of his limitations and three King Taijitu, a swarm of Beowolves, a Deathstalker and a matured Nevermore were definitely more than he could handle. The fact that he had only managed to kill half the Beowolves, one of the King Taijitu and injured another made that even more clear.

Sighing and letting the pain and discomfort of his aching muscles wash over him, Peter stepped out of the simulator and out into the crowd. Everyone was chattering, quite a few of them even offering congratulations or their own awed opinions of his performance in the past hour. He was only glad that he had maintained enough control over himself not to make any embarrassing decisions. According to his trainers he used to have a habit of snarling and screaming when he lost his temper in combat and he didn't want anyone to see that, just in case.

'Well that was an interesting display,' the loud, synthetically reverberating voice of Jedd Nechten said in a placid tone.

Peter turned and gave a wan, tired smile as he saw the second year leader of Team JETT stride up to him. Surprisingly, he was alone and unlike the rest of the crowd, who were clustering around the simulator to get their turns, he was walking towards Peter.

'Hello, Jedd,' Peter replied, straightening and mustering a little more energy into his voice and expressions. 'Can I help you?'

'Well, I was wondering if we could talk?' Jedd admitted, his eyes displaying his sheepishness.

Peter looked around at the section of the coliseum they were in. It was full of students, the noise getting louder as another person began their simulation and everyone else restarted conversation or commented on the scenario the new fighter had chosen. 'Not here, please,' he said.

'Of course,' Jedd replied with a conciliatory nod and a look that indicated he had never intended to stay in the training grounds now that Peter was finished. 'Follow me.'

The two of them quickly walked out of the training ground and back into the main courtyard on campus. Jedd led the way as Peter followed him over to the western edge of the academy and then off onto the wilder portion of the grounds. Peter soon realised they were heading down the path that led to the Emerald Forest. As they walked the two of them caught up, Peter learning that Jedd had apparently maintained his team's perfect victory record for the semester, despite the increase in challenges from the students in his year.

It was when they finally got to the edge of the cliff where Initiations began; in a wooded section right next to the familiar ejection plates he had been flung from only a few months ago, that Jedd stopped and look Peter in the eye. 'There's something I've been meaning to ask,' he stated.

'It's about what happened the other day, isn't it?' Peter asked, frowning and giving a small glare to the older boy.

'Yeah,' Jedd admitted with a nod. He went over to a rock on the cliff's edge and sat on it looking at Peter. 'What happened? Why'd Nox Skye bring you in and hand you off to the professors?'

Peter sighed, almost letting out a groan before he stopped himself. He had been hoping not to talk about it and had been surprised about how few questions he had gotten from people. What hadn't surprised him was how quickly rumours were popping up and spreading though.

'Sorry,' Jedd suddenly said, likely noticing Peter's mood. 'I probably shouldn't have asked like that.'

'No, no,' Peter replied, waving dismissively and sighing again. 'It's alright. You're actually the first to ask and someone was bound to anyway. I might as well get it out of the way.'

'Good,' Jedd said in response, levelling a gaze at Peter that he could only describe as straightforward and expectant.

Peter sighed, rubbed his face with his right hand and lent back against a nearby tree, his left hand steadying him. 'We've been trying to find the Red Fang,' he said bluntly, preferring not to delay this time.

'Seriously?' Jedd deadpanned, an eyebrow rising as he scrutinised Peter.

'Yes,' Peter immediately replied. He hadn't been told he wasn't allowed to talk about the other night so he decided to put everything out there for the boy he considered a friend of sorts. 'It started a while ago but last night was probably the most progress we ever made. In fact we were able to find their main headquarters, see the massive amount of weaponry they had stockpiled and get involved in a fight with special forces sent to stop them.'

'Wait, what?' Jedd asked, his eyes widening as Peter's last statement registered in his mind.

'We fought a group of Atlesian students who were attached to the police operation and worked with Nox Skye,' Peter repeated with further details. 'Needless to say we lost.'

'Atlesians?' Jedd asked, after a short pause where he seemed to be thinking over what he had been told. 'You mean you fought the transfer students?'

Peter was about to give his affirmative when he paused and thought about what Jedd had said. 'How did you know I was talking about them?'

'You really think we weren't doing something similar?' Jedd replied, puffing up his chest. 'Team JETT are the best. We try to keep on top of all of our rivals, especially with the Vytal Festival coming up. We looked into them and noticed them at crime scenes a couple of times.'

Peter was shocked for a few seconds. He hadn't imagined anyone else would have been interested in the third year transfers but it seemed that Jedd and his teammates had managed to make nearly as much progress as they had with far less risk.

'Have you been doing that to us?' Peter asked, his mind dwelling on what Jedd had just admitted.

'Yes,' Jedd replied immediately, 'but that's beside the point. I want to know something else.'

'What's that?' Peter asked.

'Are you still going to be looking for the Red Fang?' Jedd said with hesitation, looking Peter in the eyes as he spoke.

'No,' Peter immediately replied, the pitch of his voice rising. 'I am not going to look for the Red Fang and end up taken in by the police again. If anyone in my team steps out of line again we are expelled.'

'Alright,' Jedd said in a placating tone, holding his hands up. 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just wanted to know.'

'Well, now you do,' Peter replied bitterly, glaring at Jedd.

'Sorry,' Jedd repeated, his tone now genuinely apologetic. 'I get it. I just wanted to say that if you,' he paused and seemed to look past Peter as if he was thinking, 'you know, if anything happens you can call on me and my team for help.'

Peter was confused by what he had just heard. He hadn't expected that kind of response from the older boy. 'I… well, thank you.'

'It's not a problem,' Jedd continued. 'I'm not trying to force you to do anything. I just want to help however I can.'

'Don't worry too much,' Peter drawled sardonically, a hint of bitterness still in his tone. 'My team is avoiding anything that could get us in trouble, especially if I have anything to say about it.'

'I can understand that,' Jedd replied. He then leaned forward and lifted himself to his feet 'Do you want to get lunch?'

'No, thank you,' Peter said in response, wondering for a moment what and how Jedd ate with the respirator on. 'I'm going back to the dorms. I'm exhausted.'

'Well I think half the school would know why that is,' Jedd drawled, a smirk visible in his eyes and the tops of his cheeks.

The two of them walked away from the cliffs, Jedd still talking about the Vytal Festival and what they could expect. Peter felt tired but at the same time was still restless. He wanted to find something to do, anything that could take his mind off of what had happened the other night.

* * *

Greta felt tired as she walked up to her room. Despite the slight uplift in her mood earlier in the morning, the fatigue and depression that she had been feeling since Nox Skye dragged her and her team back to Beacon, had returned with a vengeance. It had been nice to get Lach and Tom's support but the moment they were gone and she was able to start thinking about the other night, it had obsessively stayed in the forefront of her mind, grinding her down with fear, paranoia and humiliation. She didn't know for sure whether or not people had been watching her and whispering about her as she walked around campus but it had certainly felt like it.

She had spent hours wandering around Beacon, mostly in an attempt to distract herself. Lach and Tom had stayed with her for some of that time, chatting with her but they had been forced to leave; training sessions for the upcoming Vytal Festival Tournament demanding their attention. Once they were gone it had become much more difficult for Greta to keep her thoughts at bay. It was about lunchtime when she finally gave up and since she wasn't hungry she instead decided to return to her dorm instead.

She stood in front of her door and stared at it for as moment. She wasn't sure if this was actually where she wanted to go back to. As bad as things were when strangers judged her, it was so much worse when her partner and teammates, people she lived with and would be spending four years with, did the same. Turning to look across the hall at Team TEAL's room for a second, Greta sighed and opened the door to her dorm.

Opening the door to her room, Greta was surprised to see the entirety of her team were inside. She had expected them to leave the room like she had; in fact she had seen them outside of the room earlier in the day and had tried to avoid them.

Stepping into the room, Greta quickly glanced at her teammates to see what they doing. Aurora was on her bed, reading a book, Peter was on his listening to music and looking at his scroll while Rapture was sitting on hers, watching a movie she had playing on the holographic projector built into the room's desk.

Greta shut the door and stood in the doorway. She was expecting something from her teammates; they hadn't actually spoken to one another since the previous night. She did see them look up at her, noticing someone had entered the room but after looking her up and down for a few seconds they had all gone back to what they were doing. Greta let out a quiet sigh, both relieved and disappointed that they had barely reacted to her.

Frowning, Greta walked over to her bed, kicked off her shoes and lay down on it. She lay there for several seconds, still looking about for a reaction or response from the others. Aside from a little fidgeting from Rapture there was nothing, except for a quick second-long glance from Peter. She barely paid attention to the movie that was playing and when she did give it a quick look she saw it was the cop-comedy she had gotten as a government mandated present from the orphanage on a barely remembered birthday and grimaced. After what had happened the other day she didn't want to think about the police.

"Oh come on guys," Greta thought, sighing out of her nose. "Do something. Say something. Don't just lie there."

Greta rolled over, flopping onto her front and sighing into her pillow. It was now quite clear that no-one else was going to start talking and she certainly wasn't going to be the one to first draw attention. She rested her head on her pillow and was about to shut her eyes when she noted a piece of paper on the floor next to Peter's bed.

"Okay," she thought. "Peter doesn't just leave a mess."

Despite herself, her interest was piqued and with very little else to do, she decided she was going to take a look at whatever Peter could have possibly dropped and forgotten. Rolling again, she fell off of the bed, landing on her hands and knees next to Peter's bed.

'Um,' Peter began tentatively, now roused from his reading by her display. 'Are you alright?'

'I'm fine,' Greta replied, almost grunting the words. 'Just getting something from the shelf.'

'Alright then,' Peter said, returning to his scroll.

Greta did look at the shelf of books in front of her for a few seconds. Most of them were either Peter's or Aurora's and though she would sometimes borrow textbooks from them she rarely bothered with the actual literature. The fact that most of the books were either for genres she didn't like or were business related usually put her off.

She did pull out a book from the shelf and then leaned over and grabbed the piece of paper. Pulling herself back onto her feet, she fell back onto the bed and tried to make herself comfortable again. Though she had the book in her hand she used it as a rest for the paper and then began to unfold it.

The instant she flattened the paper out again Greta saw the words "Dust-hauler" printed on it and remembered what this paper was. It was the sheet that she had told Peter to pick up in the Red Fang's headquarters. As she read it she realised just what it was; a plan, a plan that was going to happen soon.

'Shit,' Greta cursed as she folded the paper over. Crumpling it again would get the team's attention and she didn't want that. They were all on thin ice thanks to their last plan to mess around with anything to do with the Red Fang and the last thing Greta needed was another incident. What she had in her hands was proof, proof that something was going to happen.

Lying back on her pillow and trying not to make her panic obvious, Greta pocketed the paper sheet in her dress. She needed to pretend that she had never seen the sheet, find a good time to get rid of it and then forget it ever existed. Swallowing in worry, Greta rubbed her face and decided that she was going to watch the movie. The sooner she took her mind off of everything that was currently going wrong for her, the sooner they would get better; that was her new plan and she was going to stick to it.


	14. Chapter Fourteen: Gods Help Us

**Chapter** **Four** **teen** **:** **Gods Help Us** **:**

 **November** **1** **3** **th** **1** **462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

It was finally Monday, the start of a new week and Greta couldn't remember having a worse weekend. Her team had finally started talking to each other again but it was a strained and awkward experience. Now one was visibly passing blame but there was an undercurrent of tension between them all now. They had all been spending time with Team TEAL but it was always as separate groups. Aurora had thrown herself into her diminishing pile of homework, Peter subjected himself to strenuous training sessions that had already become the talk of the dorms and colosseum while Rapture just went on long walks, almost like she had back during the team's first fight.

Greta, meanwhile, had been forced to put up with all of that and the Red Fang plan that, despite her best efforts, she had been unable to forget. The paper sheet was still hidden in one of her textbooks and she had repeatedly failed to work up the nerve to get rid of it completely after recovering it from her pocket. Now she would just stare at it as it poked out of the pages the sheet was wedged between.

Their suspension had mattered very little as classes were essentially over. Team GRAP were still expected to finish their homework assignments though. Greta was currently at her desk in the dorm, trying her best to work through the last few pieces she had yet to complete. The events of the past week had been very distracting and she wasn't sure about the exact quality of the answers she was giving but they had to be done and she knew she was on thin enough ice with the school as it currently stood. If anything, she had hoped the homework would distract her from the paper sheet she had found. Unfortunately, it hadn't.

Classes weren't an option either. Greta had considered getting her team together to have a training session or maybe even track down Team TEAL and see if any of them would train with her instead. Nothing had come of these musings though and Greta had simply settled down to stew in her own thoughts. The Vytal Festival was coming up, preparations still had to be made, she and her entire team had to be careful with their behaviour, the rumours were still spreading and circulating faster and faster and the paper sheet was always there in the back of her mind. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so stressed and for the first time since she had started combat school, Greta wondered if she had made the right choice in wanting to become a Huntress.

'Ya sure you're alright?' Lach asked as he stepped up to her side. She had decided to go down into Vale with him and Tom to hang out and possibly distract herself but they hadn't actually thought about what they wanted to do and were currently wandering through the town.

'I'm fine,' Greta said, waving non-committally. 'Just… you know.'

'Yeah,' Lach said in response, nodding in understanding. He still had a frown on his face but he didn't look like he was going to press the issue any further.

'So?...' Tom then began, a look of concern on his face. 'What exactly are we doing here today?'

'I...' Greta began before stalling. 'I… I dunno.'

Both boys sighed in response but it was Tom who offered a solution. 'Would you like to get a drink?' He asked. 'Tea? Coffee? Soda?'

'Alright,' Greta said, not sounding sure of the decision but happy to have it out of her hands in some way.

Once Lach nodded an affirmative to the suggestion the three of them set off in search of a cafe or bar that could offer them what they wanted. Tom had immediately said they should avoid anything too strong, a decision that seemed to leave Lach a little disappointed but he kept quiet. Eventually they came across a small cafe that wasn't particularly full, found a booth they could all sit in separated from the few other customers and sat down to choose their drinks.

Greta bought a coffee and, when it arrived, added a fair amount of sugar and milk and then took several sips. She watched as Lach got his own coffee, which he kept much more bitter, and Tom ordered tea which he seemed to drink in an almost reverent manner that she had seen him do before.

'So?' Tom then said as he put the cup he had been drinking from down. 'How are you feeling Greta? Really?'

Greta narrowed her eyes at the smaller boy. 'I don't know what you're talki...'

'Don't give us that,' Lach immediately interrupted. 'I know that we couldn't fix your problems with just one talk but ya got even worse after Saturday. What's up with you?'

Greta grit her teeth as she saw both boys look at her. Tom was trying to be both apologetic and encouraging whilst Lach seemed more impatient than anything else. She was annoyed at the accusation, both for getting called out and because he was, in a way, correct.

'It's difficult, alright?' Greta admitted, not bothering to keep up any of the poor charade.

'We understand,' Tom replied in a sympathetic tone. 'We just want to help.'

'Yeah,' Lach added in a firmer voice. 'Ya look terrible right now and we can tell it's not cause of the stuff last week. We just want ta know if anythin's happened.'

Greta groaned and put her head in her hands. She wasn't sure if she should tell them or if she even could. What she had tucked away in her room was likely dangerous. Just owning it could get her in more trouble, or it could make things better but she just didn't know.

'I… I just don't know if I can tell you guys,' Greta ground it, barely keeping her voice above a whisper.

Both boys suddenly made the same look of surprise and concern, their eyes shifting to look at one another. Lach's hard expression was now completely gone as he turned back to her and looked her in the eyes.

'Is it really that bad?' he asked.

'Uh… um, yeah,' Greta said before looking away from them. 'Like, I really don't know what to do about it.'

'You know we are here to help?' Tom reminded her. 'That's what we said on Saturday.'

'I know, guys,' Greta snapped, losing patience. 'I know. It's just… so, uuuuhhhhhh.'

Her voice trailed off into a tired moan and then ended with a dejected grunt. She had tried so hard not to really think about the paper and what was written on it and whilst she had ultimately failed, the boys' insistence on talking with her had filled her head with all of the worries she had been trying to avoid.

'Sorry,' Tom said, the word sounding almost reflexive due to how quickly he said it.

'No problem,' Greta replied, waving her right hand at him. 'Just...' she began but then stopped with a sigh. 'This thing's been getting at me for days now.'

'How bad is it supposed ta be then?' Lach asked, once again sounding firm.

Greta glared up at him but answered anyway, keeping her voice low. 'I'll probably get expelled for it. Which isn't saying much since a lot of things could do that right now. But it's not just about that.'

'It's not?' Lach asked. 'What'dya mean?'

'I...' Greta began. 'I… don't want to talk about it.'

She saw both boys' faces fall as she let out another sigh and gave them a withered look. After everything she really didn't want to tell them what she had found or what it really could mean, for her anyway.

'Fine,' Tom eventually said. 'I understand. But you can't just keep bottling this up. It only makes it worse. Try to find someone. I'm sure there's someone you can tell this to.'

'Like I've said we're here for ya,' Lach added, no longer appearing as hard as before. 'If it's too much ta handle then just come find us. We've got ya back.'

'Thanks guys,' Greta sighed, tiredly. 'I appreciate it. I really do,' she continued, trying to sound sincere, 'but I'm just not in the mood to talk about this right now. I'd rather find something to do.'

'If ya say so,' Lach replied. 'Dya still wanna stay in town?'

'Um… yeah,' Greta said after a short pause. It would still be easier to find distractions in Vale itself rather than Beacon.

The three of them finished their drinks in an uneasy silence and then set off, Tom suggesting going to see a movie. Despite herself, Greta couldn't stop thinking about the paper again as well as what the boys had said to her. She had to tell someone, she felt like she was going to go mad now if she did nothing and so she made up her mind.

* * *

After many hours silently fretting over her decision and trying to hide it from Tom and Lach, Greta stood in front of her room. She had just said goodbye to the boys a second ago and watched them enter their room across the hallway. Now there was nothing to delay her. A small part of her hoped that even just one member of the team was away so that she couldn't properly tell them. With nothing else to hold her back, Greta stuck out her hand and opened the door.

"Well," Greta thought morosely. "Here goes nothing."

The rest of GRAP were in their room, every one of them doing something by themselves. Peter was listening to music and reading, Aurora had several books spread in front of her at the room's desk and Rapture seemed to be flicking through the interlink on her scroll. As they had been for the last couple of days, no-one was looking at one another and an awkward atmosphere filled the room. For a second they all looked up from their things and then went back to what they were doing.

Greta looked at them all for a second and then sighed, the inevitability of her task weighing down on her. 'Guys,' she began, pausing to see if she had their attention, 'we need to talk.'

'I'm sorry, what was that?' Peter asked as he took his earphones off.

'I said we need to talk,' Greta repeated, looking at Rapture and Aurora to see that she now had their attention as well.

'About what?' Rapture asked as she folded her legs on the bed she had been sitting on.

Greta paused for a moment and then rubbed her head, sighing in frustration as she tried to think of the best way to approach the topic. It was then that she decided the only way she could begin was by showing them the sheet of paper that had been messing with her thoughts all this time.

'Okay guys,' she began as she picked up the book she had hidden the paper in. 'Peter, do you remember I told you to pick up some paper from the Red Fang.'

'Yes,' Peter answered, looking a little uneasy at the mere mention of the unfortunate incident.

'Yeah, well, I found and read it,' Greta continued. 'It's some kind of plan they've been making and… it, um, kind of looks like they might be about to do it.'

'Wha… but, what are you talking about?' Aurora asked, shock and disbelief on her face as she spoke. 'What do you mean you found a plan of theirs?'

'Okay,' Greta sighed. 'This paper is some kind of plan they made. There isn't much on it but there's details of some kind of attack they might be doing.'

'Let me see it,' Aurora insisted, getting up from her seat and storming over to Greta, her hand outstretched to take the paper sheet.

'Wait, wait, wait, wait,' Rapture then said as she threw herself off of the bed. 'I want to see it too.'

'Hold on,' Peter interjected, also getting to his feet and striding over with a discomforted look on his face. 'Put it down on a desk or something. We'll all read it.'

Greta tried not to rub her face in frustration, though at what she wasn't sure. The entire situation was what she had largely expected it would be but she knew that she had to see everything through to the end. She had brought it up so she couldn't just back out now, as much as she wanted to. Giving in she walked over to the desk laid it down and then cringed a little as the others crowded around it, jostling her as they tried to get a look.

"Operation taking place on 11/15/1462," the paper read in short, terse sentences printed in a standard font. "Dust-hauler must be fully loaded and brought to the South Wall of the defensive lines in the Agricultural District. Target will be the remaining Basilikos Construction Company building site. Come armed and ready to move quickly."

Greta had read it before. The actual orders weren't very substantial but beneath them was a list that read like a veritable arsenal. Weaponry, Dust, vehicles and the details of where they would be buying them from or what would be delivering them lay beneath the short paragraph, displaying what the Red Fang expected to deploy. Despite the sparsity of details, it had been more than enough to tie Greta's stomach in knots and leave her fretting over what it said and what it could mean.

'You've had this since Saturday?' Aurora asked slowly, still sounding like she didn't really believe what she was seeing.

'Yes,' Greta replied. 'I, uh, told Peter to pick it up before they took us away. I kind of forgot about it after, well… um, everything.'

'Greta,' Aurora snapped, a furious expression on her face. 'This is… this is huge. This is an attack plan. The Red Fang are going to be doing something with a Dust-hauler and a war's worth of weapons at my family's site.' Aurora then paused and snatched the paper, scanning it quickly. 'And they're going to be doing it in two days. You had this since Saturday and you just sat on it?'

'I'm sorry, okay,' Greta immediately said in response. 'I just… I didn't want to think about it alright. After all that shit I just wanted to forget it ever happened but this,' she snatched the paper out of Aurora's hands, 'just made everything worse.'

'Then why didn't you hand it over to the headmaster?' Aurora shouted back.

'Are you crazy?' Greta asked. 'I'm in enough trouble already. I don't want him catching me with this.'

'She's right, y'know?' Rapture added, getting everyone to turn towards her. She looked unsettled just looking at the paper sheet. 'This is, I guess, evidence of a crime scene. We'd probably get expelled just for being seen with it.'

'Oh gods,' Peter hissed, loud enough to be heard as he glowered at the floor and brought his left hand up to his forehead. 'One day. We didn't even make it a day.'

'And why didn't you tell us about this?' Aurora demanded, turning on Peter. 'You picked up. You probably brought it back because there's no way you could have handed it over to Greta. So why did you keep quiet.'

'I forgot, funnily enough,' Peter growled, glaring at his teammate. 'I'm sorry if I had other things on my mind when we were getting arrested.'

'Guys, guys,' Greta interrupted, dreading what she was about to say. They all whirled around to face her, angry glares on all of their faces. Peter and Aurora seemed more annoyed at being interrupted whilst Rapture appeared strangely accusatory.

'What!?' they all snapped simultaneously.

'Okay, guys, listen' she began, trying to sound at least a little confident in her words. 'This has been eating up at me for days because I don't know what to do with this. This is, well, really important and we have to do something about it.'

'Why?' Peter suddenly asked, drawing confused looks from everyone. 'Why do we have to? This plan was made before the police invaded their headquarters. For all we know they gave up on this and are going to lie low.'

'They got out with a Dust-hauler,' Greta replied, after a short pause. 'Do you think they can hide that for long?'

'Alright,' Aurora snapped. 'Supposing you are right, what do you expect us to do about it? If we tell the teachers we get in trouble for holding evidence and get expelled. If we do something ourselves we get expelled. Also, what's to stop my own family's security forces from stopping them the moment they try to park their fully loaded Dust-hauler along the wall; assuming the police haven't already prepared to catch them anyway. Why do we have to do anything? Why should we do anything?'

Greta was stunned, unable to think of an answer. She opened her mouth to try to give an answer, anything that came to mind that could serve as rebuttal but nothing came out of her mouth. Blinking in surprise and confusion a few times, she quickly deflated, a depressed look taking over her face. Aurora, meanwhile, stared her down, either waiting for an answer or trying to completely cow her with mere disapproval.

'Greta,' Aurora said after a weighted pause, speaking in a calmer but no less aggressive tone. 'You know better than any of us what's going to happen if we do anything, _anything_ , wrong. My parents told me they were going to pull me out of Beacon after what we did. Do you want us to throw away this one last chance we have to actually stay in this school?'

'No,' Greta admitted, feeling oddly defeated. She looked at Peter and Rapture, both of whom seemed uneasy but weren't looking to interrupt.

'I don't understand why you want to keep looking into this,' Aurora continued, still staring Greta down. 'We've already had enough trouble because of this whole thing and...'

'Aurora,' Rapture interrupted.'Lay off her. You've made your point.'

'I don't know if I have,' Aurora said in response. 'How many times have we done this? We've gone after the Red Fang three times and every time it's been worse and worse for us. What do you think will happen to us if we go out this time? Even if we find anything and the police aren't already dealing with it we'll just be alone.'

'I don't know about,' Peter then said, speaking for the first time. In an instant he flashed past everyone, appearing in front of the door.

Grasping the doorknob and unlocking it in a swift motion, Peter pulled the door open. With short cries of surprise, Tom and Elizabeth, who had both been pressed against the wood of the door, piled into the room, Tom hitting the floor and his partner landing on top of him. After a moment of shock, Greta looked up to see Adelheid and Lach nervously looking into the doorway, people she recognised as the second year team, JETT were just behind them.

'Um, hiya,' Lach said, his tone sounding uncertain.

'What are you doing here?' Peter asked before anyone else could speak.

'We, um, well,' Tom began. 'We were a bit worried about everyone and… um, Elizabeth could you please get off of me?'

'Do you think I liked being on the floor?' the red-headed girl responded in an annoyed tone as she pulled herself up. She got up to her feet and brushed herself off as Tom did the same.

'You were worried about us?' Aurora said, raising an eyebrow at the group as they all waited in the doorway.

'Well, yeah,' Jedd Nechten rumbled in a matter of fact tone. 'It didn't really take a detective to know that all of you have been, well, disturbed lately.'

'We really don't need you here right now,' Aurora then said imperiously, frowning in anger. 'I think the matter has been settled now.'

'I beg to differ,' Jedd replied, stepping forward. 'Isn't that right guys?'

The entire group gave their affirmatives though the other members of Team JETT didn't look as convinced. Tom and Lach had looks of conviction as they turned from Aurora to nod at Greta. Adelheid and Elizabeth, whilst appearing not as concerned were looking around, from one member of Team GRAP to the other. Still, despite the varying levels of interest, everyone had agreed with the masked boy.

'He's right,' Greta then said, getting everyone's attention. The entire group turned to Greta, staring at her with various expressions. Greta blinked as she realised she had actually spoken and floundered for a moment as she tried to figure what she had meant to say.

'I'm sorry?' Peter said, surprising Greta by being the first to speak instead of Aurora.

'I, um, I said he's right,' Greta replied after a moment to collect herself. She stood back up and looked at her team, trying to put as much steely determination on her face as she could muster. 'It's not settled. Aurora,' she turned to look the other girl in the eye,' you asked me why we should do this. Well… it's because I'm a Huntress.'

'Excuse me?' Aurora said, confusion on her face.

'It's because I'm a Huntress,' Greta replied with more surety. 'Doing things like this is the reason we came here, right? Huntresses are supposed to fight criminals and things… like them. I've been trying to think about what I was supposed to do with those plans since I found them. I can't give them to the school because we'll really get in trouble but I can't just ignore them either. If the Red Fang are going to do something to the wall then I need to do something about it because; well, what if the police don't know?'

She paused, now worried about how they would react. Aurora's frown was still there, on her face but Rapture and Peter definitely looked conflicted. The other two teams, still standing either on the edge of the room or outside of it, were looking back and forth between one another, unsure of what to do.

'If the police do know then we'll be fine, right?' Greta continued. 'If they don't then the wall's in danger and we could do something about it.'

'And what if something goes wrong or the police do something like, I don't know, ask what we were doing on the border?' Aurora shot back. 'All we'd be doing is setting ourselves up for expulsion.'

'You don't think I don't know that?!' Greta shouted, suddenly feeling furious at her teammate. She paused for a while to take a couple of breathes. 'What do you think'll happen to me if we get kicked out. You all have places to go back to. You,' she pointed at Aurora, 'have your rich family to go back to. You could do something, start over, whatever. Me, I go back to an orphanage for another year and then get kicked out onto the street, with a combat education that's not gonna get me a job. I'm not going to get adopted or anything by this point, especially if I get an expulsion on my record. If I get kicked out of here then I'm fucked.'

'Then why risk it?' Aurora replied, standing her ground.

'I...' she paused for a second, wondering why. 'It's because this is what I'm supposed to do, right? How exactly am I supposed to be a Huntress if I don't try to stop a threat to Vale? What am I supposed to do if I graduate, start working and only think about doing something if there's no chance I'll get into trouble doing it? What kind of Huntress just sits back and waits for the police to take care of everything?'

She could see Aurora was wavering, the look of annoyance had been replaced by an uncertain one. She could see TEAL and JETT supported her. All of JETT – except for Jedd who's mouth she couldn't see – were smirking in what she assumed was agreement and Tom and Lach were nodding in approval. Adelheid had an eyebrow raised but the edges of her mouth were raised up and the odd glare Elizabeth was levelling at Aurora looked almost challenging.

'She's right,' another voice interrupted. It took Greta a moment to realise it was Rapture who had spoken and she taken aback by the fact that she had actually forgotten about her other two teammates.

'Rapture,' Aurora said, looking surprised.

'Aurora, she's right,' Rapture repeated, looking at her partner. 'It kinda is what we're supposed to do. Hell, I was saying this stuff back when we were at the mall. If Greta's going to keep looking for the Red Fang then… I'm in.'

'Me too,' Peter added, walking up to Greta and standing beside her. 'If Greta is going to risk everything to do this then I've got to go with her. I'm not sure what kind of partner I would be if I didn't.'

Greta smiled gratefully at her two teammates as they showed their support, even if they both still had hesitant and conflicted expressions on their faces. She turned to Aurora, everyone in the room and out in the corridor looking expectantly at the dark-skinned girl. Aurora looked worried and her expression kept shifting between the prior determination and a discomforted grimace.

'Fine,' Aurora sighed in resignation. 'I'll help.'

'Thanks,' Greta said with genuine gratitude. A part of her had no idea how to feel now. She had finally been able to vent the absurd and uncomfortable feelings she had been enduring for so long but now that she had committed herself to a dangerous mission that could see her entire life ruined, she was finally stopping to think about what exactly that meant.

At the beginning of the semester, Greta had planned to follow the path of least resistance, find some clarity in her life and spend the next four years following the rules, staying out of trouble and forging an easy path through life. Now she was going to risk everything for a goal she didn't really understand that would probably cost her everything she had worked for and ruin the vague plan she had been keeping for her entire life since she had first seriously begun to think about her future. Trying not to let it show, Greta struggled to get her thoughts back in line and do what she did best, focus on her objective and find the best and easiest way to fulfil it.

'You're right,' Aurora suddenly said, snapping Greta out of her thoughts. 'This is what we're supposed to do, I guess. If this is what you say were going to do then I'll do my best to help.'

'So will we,' Tom, Lach and Jedd Nechten said simultaneously, the rest of the other two teams nodding in agreement and solidarity.

'Wait, you're really going to come with us?' Greta asked the other eight people.

'Yeah,' nearly all of them replied in the same matter of fact tone.

'We said we'd be there for you,' Tom clarified once again.

'I told Peter that we'd help you out if anything like this happened,' Jedd explained. 'Isn't that right team?'

'Yeah,' Team JETT replied in different tones, Egeria and Tobias sounding indifferent whilst Thaba rumbled a more committed and supportive reply.

'Thanks, guys,' Greta said with sincerity. The doubts that had bubbled up inside of her were forgotten for a moment as she looked over everyone. Letting out a sigh of relief, Greta fell back on her seat.

'Okay,' Peter said as he looked down at her with a sardonically questioning look. 'So now that we're definitely going to do this, what exactly are we doing?'

* * *

Iseabal Beathas smiled in satisfaction as she read over the reports. Things were going more or less as they were supposed to, despite a few minor issues. The war against crime in the massive Northern Residential District was finally beginning to wind down now that the Red Fang had been expelled from it. Public opinion was divided over the conflict now that a major victory had been made and political opinion was in a similar state.

Benedict had helped sow the seeds of conflict in the Council and once that was done and Laal had her marching orders, all they had to do was sit back and let everything fall into place, or apart, whichever benefited the Society. Now, however, they couldn't just sit back and watch anymore. The Red Fang had suffered a nasty defeat but they weren't defeated completely. Still, the organisation was on it's last legs and probably wasn't going to be a useful asset for much longer. Now that the stage was set, it was time to begin Phase Two of the plan.

Getting up, Iseabal knew now was the time to make a visit to Laal, not a proper one where she would have to endure backtalk from the jumped up terrorist, but a covert one where she could keep an eye on the ailing Red Fang. To that end she pushed herself away from the desk that held all of her reports and turned around.

Her apartment was a luxurious and well furnished room situated in a subterranean compound built underneath a rather average hotel in the Main Residential District. The compound, a maze of tunnels that burrowed deep beneath the surface of the streets, and the hotel were both owned by the Society though the latter didn't host many of their personnel. The staff were either members of their fraternity or had been subjected to intense brainwashing techniques that rendered them practically incapable of noticing out of place activities on the site. They still had to be careful during government inspections but bribes tended to keep civil servants at bay; and they were usually more than happy to just assume they were another simple racket. Lien was all that mattered and Iseabal had plenty of that.

Walking through her room she went over to a wide cabinet that had a full-body mirror set in it. It was a handmade item, carved of rare Vacuite hardwoods and covered in half-forgotten Vacuite filigree script that was only really known by scholars and professors of ancient linguistics. The panelling was almost black under the beautiful sheen of the Dust enhanced varnish and an attached desk circled around both sides, separated at the centre where it gave access to the door the mirror was set within. It had belonged to her mother and she had inherited it from them long ago, shortly after they had handed her to the Society and gone to fulfil their own sacred missions in the Wild Lands.

Opening up the cabinet, she found a series of coats inside. She was currently dressed in a long black shirt and equally dark trousers. They were somewhat noticeable and opulent but had been made to be durable enough for her to go outside in them. Pulling out a long, brown overcoat, she put it over her outfit and then reached down and lifted a pair of sturdy boots off of the floor of the cabinet and put them on. Almost done, she then grabbed a golden belt that had two holsters attached to it and looped it around her waist. Shutting the door, she then reached under the left-hand desk attached to the cabinet and pulled open a drawer under the surface of the desk.

Inside were a pair of handguns. They were long, with thick barrels and curved grips that were made of hardwoods from southern Sanus and decorated with carvings of forgotten Vytali script. Tucked under the body of the gun were the folded parts of curved metal blades attached to mecha-shift components, ready to be folded out when needed. Both the metal and wood of the weapons had been reinforced with special Dust mixtures that had cost her a fortune but it was worth it. These were her Kingmakers, the weapons she used to help fulfil her purpose.

Checking over herself, Iseabal took the right handgun and held it close. 'In the name of the Elders who will deliver us to perfection and purity, carry me between the shadows.'

Finishing the incantation, she unfolded the knife of her Kingmaker, mecha-shift parts extending the barrel and then allowing the parts of the blade to slide into place until they reached out, lengthening the weapon by another foot. Once it was in place, the blade glowed a deep, ruddy red colour. Holding the Kingmaker out, Iseabal smirked and slashed the air in front of her.

In an instant the space distorted, blossoming out like a gaping wound that pulsated with rings of off-colour light that flowed out from the area she had cut. Iseabal gazed into the tear for a moment, marvelling in it's beautifully unnatural appearance. She always studied the phenomena every time she summoned it and yet it always looked and felt different. Once she was finished looking into the glowing void, Iseabal walked forward and into the tear.

The transition was indescribable, over in an instant and yet revealing a short passageway of shimmering lights and empty, inky blackness that writhed around the colours. For a moment Iseabal looked through the gaps in the colours and swore she could see things moving in the darkness, swimming through it like fish, melding with it and becoming it only to separate again. Though there were no eyes, no lights or other signs of life in the blackness, Iseabal could feel various things watching her; the great, ancient and inhuman intelligences that she honoured and worshipped and, who in turn, had granted her the power to make wounds in the world and walk between them. Then, in a heartbeat, it was over, the tear in the world shut and Iseabal found herself in a dark alleyway.

Laal was supposed to keep her informed of where she and her wretched insurgents based themselves at all times. Iseabal had rarely cared as long as the location was secure but this time, after having seen the Red Fang lose so many of the resources the Society had generously loaned them, she wanted to make sure that what was left of the investment was being put to good use.

Retracting Kingmaker's blade and holstering the weapon, Iseabal closed up her overcoat and took a deep breath. After taking a moment to collect her bearings again, Iseabal blinked and looked around. Travelling through whatever void allowed her to step between shadows was always as disorienting as it was elating; still it had gotten her to the destination she wanted. The alleyway was short, with a dead-end on one side and an opening to a street at the other. The street was unlit and just as dark as the walled off side opposite from it.

Walking forward, she exited the alley and found herself on an unlit street. Iseabal closed her coat to avoid attention and set off in the direction of a large, nondescript warehouse that Laal had informed her was their current hideout. Despite the need to be inconspicuous, she knew the Red Fang needed space for their equipment. It was difficult to hide a small army's arsenal in anything less than the large storage building that loomed over her at the end of the street.

Iseabal knew it wasn't worth going inside. Laal and her pack were difficult enough to deal with when she arranged meetings with them; going in unannounced would start an argument she didn't want to fight. Instead, Iseabal walked up to the wall and then looked to see where the nearest windowsill or ledge was. When she finally spotted it she focused Aura into her legs and jumped. In an instant she had cleared several metres and tucked her legs up to touch the brick of the wall. The moment they did she kept running, momentum and her Aura against the wall allowing her to run up the vertical surface until she gracefully stepped onto a windowsill.

She tucked herself in to balance herself on the narrow surface, bracing herself with her hands on either side of the window. Taking in a deep breath to recover from the exertion and compose herself, Iseabal looked in through the window. It had been unlit when she had surveyed the building and she saw that, as she suspected, it led into an empty room.

Testing the window, she found it was locked. Another quick application of Aura allowed her to simply force the window up, the lock bending and breaking under the pressure. Whilst far from tiring her, the entire excursion had cost Iseabal more effort than she had initially been willing to give. Putting aside the matter but keeping the frown that had formed on her face at the realisation, Iseabal slunk inside, barely making a sound. For the sake of caution, she sent feelers of her Semblance out, planning to dull the faunus' awareness to avoid detection. It was a simple and passive trick that she regularly used and was very well practised in as a result.

Leaving the room, she found herself in a dark and abandoned hallway. The only signs that it had been recently used were the footprints in the thick layer of dust and the detritus that had been shoved to either side of the floor. Wrinkling her nose at the smell that dominated the building, Iseabal stalked down the hall until she found a door that led out to a gallery overlooking the main hanger of the warehouse.

'Get all that loaded up,' a familiar voice echoed from the floor beneath the gallery as Iseabal stealthily crept onto the edge of the balcony.

The hanger was full of Red Fang personnel and their equipment. The boxes of supplies didn't rise as far as they had when Iseabal had seen it shipped into their previous headquarters but there was still enough Dust and weaponry to fight a small war and it was all being loaded back onto a large collection of converted vehicles that were going to serve as a mobile arsenal for the final remnants of the Red Fang. Iseabal knew that this was likely to be the organisation's last gasp. She had convinced Laal to consolidate everything for this plan and their losses had reduced them to the just over a hundred members, all of them now present in the building.

'We're moving in a day,' Laal barked as shouldered her way through the press of faunus hurrying to prepare for their mission. 'I want everything checked and rechecked. If were missing so much as a speck of Dust then I'm chaining you to front of the hauler and leaving you with it. Am I understood?!'

Iseabal smirked as she saw the woman's subordinates work faster, several almost tripping over one another at their leader's threats. It was good to know that Laal was so committed to the schedule she had worked out though. It meant less work for her.

Satisfied that the Red Fang were still following the plan, Iseabal stepped away from the balcony and back into the dark hallway. Once she had shut the door she once again pulled out Kingmaker, deployed its blade and cut a hole in the air. After spending a few seconds staring into the pulsating hole in reality, Iseabal stepped through it and back into her apartment.

Taking off her coat, Iseabal let it fall onto one of her armchairs and then went over to her desk where a number of scrolls lay. She had several devices, most of which were untraceable, one that was a decoy for police investigation and a couple of duds that weren't connected to any network. Only one of them actually had any valuable information and it not only had a bio-coded lock but also had a program installed that destroyed the data inside it if anyone attempted to hack it.

Picking up one of her untraceable spares, she unlocked it and then opened up the call function. Typing in a number she had memorised long ago, she put the scroll to her ear and waited for a response.

'Yes?' the uneasy voice of Benedict Cache said over the receiver after only a few seconds.

'Hello Benny,' Iseabal began in a tone that was both friendly and superior at the same time, smiling in satisfaction as she pictured how mentally beaten down and obedient he would have looked the moment he first heard her voice.

'Iseabal,' Benedict replied, his voice sounding firmer but still subservient. 'What can I do for you now?'

'I have a new errand for you,' Iseabal continued, her tone turning more serious. 'But first, tell me, how is everything going with the Council.'

'Li still listens to me,' Benedict immediately replied, sounding worn out but not really remorseful about what he was doing. 'He also recommended me to his allies in the rest of the government. I tell them what I told him, follow their consciences. They have all already made up their minds about fighting in the north so all I really do is tell them what they want to hear.'

'That's very good to hear,' Iseabal said in response. 'Well since you are doing so well in keeping the Council's confidence I have a few new suggestions for the advice you give.'

'What is it?' Benedict asked.

'First, you should make a few judgements about Nox Skye.' Iseabal heard a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line though whether it was from fear, anger or trepidation, she couldn't tell. 'I think some comments about the godless Revanchists who taught Skye and the unstable militancy of his regime wouldn't go amiss.'

'I understand,' Benedict replied. 'And the other suggestions.'

'Oh lets not get ahead of ourselves, Benny,' Iseabal interrupted. 'I need you to be careful. Skye isn't our objective but his interference here is very unwelcome. Don't make it too obvious that we need him gone. The Council will probably want rid of him even more than we do so ease them into place. Distrust comes easily enough where Nox Skye is concerned so I just need you to nudge them a little.'

'Very well,' Benedict answered. 'I will do what I can.'

'Excellent,' Iseabal replied. 'Now the other suggestion is one I need you to make to as many officials as possible. I want you to start reminding the Council about the close bonds we share with Atlas. With any luck they'll be paying us a visit soon.'

'Atlas is going to be coming?' Benedict asked, his surprise evident.

'With the way things are going it should be obvious,' Iseabal said. 'They do like to keep an eye on us after all. We've only just stopped being what is, for all intents and purposes, their protectorate. They'll definitely come and I want you to make it a little easier for them to arrive in force. Better to keep the peace between peacekeeping forces, you understand.'

'I see?' Benedict replied, his confusion obvious in his voice. She didn't mind if he didn't understand her orders, just as long as he obeyed them.

'Now I just have another small request,' Iseabal added. 'There will be a new up and comer in the government I want to see installed in the Council. Li isn't going to last very long now and we need this man to be in place.'

'What is his name,' Benedict asked obediently, coaxing a new smile from Iseabal. She had him trained well.

'Duncan Raine,' Iseabal answered.

'Oh,' Benedict said, trying to suppress what sounded like distaste. 'Him.'

'Yes,' Iseabal said in response. 'The very same. He is especially important to us. I don't need you to do anything other than watch him though. Will you be able to handle that?'

'Of course,' Benedict replied immediately.

'Wonderful, Iseabal cooed for his benefit. 'I'll come round to see you some time soon. I hope you'll be looking forward to it. Goodbye Benny, dear.'

'Goodbye Iseabal,' Benedict sighed. She switched off the phone the instant he had finished his farewell and put the scroll down.

For a moment, Iseabal stretched, her arms high over her head and her back bending a little to loosen up. Once she was done she let out a satisfied sigh and then looked over her scroll collection. Hovering her hand over them, she picked up another device. It was another untraceable model, bearing nothing other than coded contact information that was also set to be destroyed if anyone other than her attempted to pick it up and use it. Opening up the call list, she flicked down until she had the number she wanted. Selecting it, she put the scroll to her and ear and waited for a response.

'This is Beathas,' she said in a clipped tone the moment the receiver was picked up. 'Phase Two is about to begin. Inform our brothers and sisters overseas.'

'I swear, it will be done,' a voice on the other end replied with conviction.

The moment she had confirmation she ended the call, folded the scroll back up and put it away. The call had been shorter but no less satisfying than the one she had with Benedict Cache. Everything was coming together and the Society had put their pieces in place. Now all they had to do was wait for their enemies to make their moves; the very ones that would let their world fall apart and usher in the rule of the true gods, the Elder Grimm.


	15. Chapter Fifteen: Doing Something

**Chapter** **F** **if** **teen** **:** **Doing Something** **:**

 **November** **1** **4** **th** **1** **462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

'Okay,' Greta said, looking around her dorm room, 'so we all need to agree on a plan here.'

The dorm room was now completely full; her own team, Team TEAL and Team JETT having all squeezed their way in. several of them had been forced to sit on the floor, much to the annoyance of Elizabeth and Egeria who had lost the rock-paper-scissors games that decided their current position there.

'Well the Agricultural District is massive,' Jedd began. 'If we set off today we might be able to make it to that construction site in time for tomorrow.'

'Yeah, but how do get there?' Rapture asked. 'It's not like any of the buses go there.'

'I've got a car,' Jedd answered. 'It could take most of us.'

'You really think we have the time for that?' Adelheid shot back. 'It would take all day to get there by car, assuming we don't get caught in a traffic convoy.'

'We could load them it onto one of the car-carrier trains,' Tom suggested. 'And we could rent a car.'

'All of JETT have licenses so one of us could drive you,' Jedd added.

'I could take them,' Tobias said as he cut in. 'We can hire out a rental.'

'Jedd never lets him drive the car,' Egeria interrupted absent-mindedly with an aside glance and a smirk, speaking just loudly enough to make it clear she wanted people to hear.

'That's a thought, though,' Tom stated. 'But won't that give us away… to the police I mean?'

'It would look rather suspicious,' Adelheid agreed. She had her chin resting on her right hand, her index finger tapping just below her bottom lip as she thought over the discussion. 'Do we know anyone else who can drive?' she paused for a moment and then amended her question. 'Who actually has a car, that is?'

'I don't really know anyone like that,' Greta admitted, the others in the room giving their own responses, all of them negative.

'Can't you find another team in your year?' Peter asked, turning to address Jedd.

'I know a few but I can't speak for their discretion,' Jedd answered. 'They might report us.'

'It's not worth the risk then,' Aurora said. 'We should treat anything that could give us away as a certain threat to us. Everything we're doing is possibly illegal and definitely going to get us in trouble; expelled in our case.'

Greta grimaced as Aurora indicated her, Peter and Rapture as well. Even with her new found resolve, the possibility of getting caught and kicked out of the school still hung over her and everyone else in the room. They were all doing their best to ignore it for the sake of their self-imposed mission but it was still there, lurking in the back of their minds.

'Okay, okay,' Greta interrupted, waving her hands a little to get everyone's attention. 'So we need to figure out how to get some more cars.'

'Well we could probably stick on some of our bikes,' Egeria pointed out.

'Bikes?' Tom asked.

'Yeah, motorbikes,' Egeria clarified. 'We have a couple.'

'Okay,' Greta interjected once again, trying to get everything back on track. 'So… if we do get there and find them. What do we do?'

'We could try giving the police an anonymous tip,' Tom suggested. 'Do you think there'd be a public phone nearby?'

'Well there should be some on the site itself,' Aurora answered. 'If they are there though we'd have to get in without them seeing us to do that.'

'We'll put that on the back burner then,' Greta said.

'We need an actual plan to be in front of the back burner than,' Egeria countered. 'That's really the only the idea we have.'

'Other than fighting them,' Elizabeth pointed out.

'Ya really want to fight the whole of the Red Fang, Lizzie?' Lach asked in a sardonic tone.

'What did you call me?' Elizabeth shrieked at him, rising up from the floor, her fists balling and a murderous glare on her face.

'Guys!' Greta shouted, getting everyone's attention again. 'Focus… please.'

It took a couple of seconds for everyone to settle down, Elizabeth even glaring at her as she hovered over the spot she had been sitting on before she finally went back to her place. Everyone was now looking at her, different expectant expressions on their faces as they all waited for her to continue speaking.

'Lach's right,' Greta continued. 'I don't know how many Red Fang there'll be but they'll be led by Aanjay Laal. Do any of you really want to fight her?'

All of them looked rather uncertain as they thought over the possibility of having to fight the most notorious and dangerous terrorist in Vale. That quickly changed as several people in the room started to look more confident.

'I'd risk it,' Jedd said, folding his arms and narrowing his eyes.

'It'd be worth it,' Elizabeth added. 'To have a go, anyway.'

'Guuuuuyyyyys,' Greta groaned, rubbing her head in frustration. 'Can we come up with something that doesn't involve fighting Aanjay Laal, please?'

'Well, if we can't fight them then we should call the police,' Tom said, sounding more firm this time. 'We can go in, find them, sneak over to a phone there and give them a call. We just have to be able to get to that phone.'

'So a stealth mission then?' Peter asked.

'Basically,' Tom replied. 'I mean there isn't really anything else we can do, right?'

'Not without fighting the Red Fang,' Adelheid agreed.

'Okay, so we just need to go and see if they're there,' Lach said. 'Does that paper say when they're gonna take over that site?'

'Uh, well, no, not really,' Greta admitted sheepishly. 'It only has tomorrow's date on it.'

'Right, well we'll have ta get their quickly then,' Lach responded, nodding at his own words.

'We can't start too early,' Thaba cautioned, drawing everyone's attention. He paused a moment as he realised all the people in the room were now looking at him. 'It's going to look rather suspicious if we all leave together first thing in the morning.'

'Right,' Greta agreed. 'So I just want to make it clear. We're going to go down to Vale Proper, get to a station, grab a car-hauler over to the Agricultural Sector and then go over to Aurora's site. Is that alright?'

'I don't see any problem with it,' Tom answered.

'It seems to be the best course to me,' Jedd added, the rest of the room either nodding or giving various sounds of agreement in turn, some of it begrudging or mildly sceptical but acquiescent.

'Okay then,' Greta said, glad that they had gotten the worst of the planning out of the way. 'So we do agree on all this, right? This is what we're going to do tomorrow?'

'Are we all supposed to be going in?' Aurora asked. 'Because that wouldn't exactly be inconspicuous.'

'I guess we could split up,' Greta conceded, earning several looks of surprise. She herself was terrified of the idea of splitting up in dangerous situations, having heard it be called a bad idea too many times to trust it at face value. 'Um, I mean so that we don't give ourselves away by trying to sneak twelve people up to a phone.'

'I guess some of us could keep watch,' Jedd said in agreement.

'Oh,' Tom suddenly shouted, his face lighting up in excitement. 'I've had an idea. If we are splitting this team then we should probably have lookouts further away from the site. If the Red Fang haven't actually showed up yet and we see them coming then we can tell whoever's going to stay at the site and warn it before they arrive.'

'That… actually sounds like a good idea,' Greta said after thinking over it. 'If we have cars we can probably get everyone back together quickly enough.'

'That's still very risky though,' Adelheid countered. 'What happens if anyone gets caught? The Red Fang don't take prisoners and every second of delay means someone could get killed.'

'The whole thing's risky,' Jedd shot back. 'If we try to play everything safe we'd be better off staying in our dorms and waiting for the Red Fang to attack the site.'

Adelheid glared at the older boy as Greta thought over the proposal. 'Um,' she started. 'I think that's probably the best plan… actually.'

'Really?' Peter asked, speaking up.

'Yeah,' Greta immediately replied with more confidence, turning to Tom and Jedd. 'I think that's what we should do. Right guys?'

'Yeah,' Jedd answered with surety.

'Yes,' Tom added, also sounding confident.

'Right,' Greta stated. 'So what we're going to do is get our hands on another car… Jedd, you guys have a car don't you?'

'Yeah,' Jedd rumbled with a raised eyebrow.

'I thought we'd made that clear?' Tobias muttered, a similar look on his face.

'Just wanted to make sure,' Greta shot back, making it clear she had heard the older boy and giving him the hardest look she could make. It was slightly satisfying to see Tobias blink and rise a little in his seat in surprise, Egeria and several others snickering at his reaction.

'So now we need another car,' Aurora pointed out, fixing Greta with an expectant look.

'Yeah,' Greta agreed; and then she stalled. She had no idea where to get another car. 'So… does anyone know someone who can drive?'

* * *

The last four days hadn't been easy for Elena. Despite avoiding legal action from the Valesians for trespassing in a police quarantined zone, lying to foreign officials and attempting to aid and abet apprehended criminals, they had not completely avoided punishment.

After the usual short and stern talk from their father, the two of them had been confined to their sterile quarters aboard the Ausfuhrung. Whilst they still had access to the interlink and plenty of other entertainment systems, the two of them were forbidden from stepping a foot out of their room. Their food was delivered to them by their father's Guard Troopers, every meal having the delightfully flat taste of mass produced, processed and rehydrated military rations that they had both come to loathe after enjoying Beacon's cafeteria food for so long – even if the quality was only somewhat superior.

To alleviate their boredom – and to prevent them from tearing one another apart – the two had finally decided to make a call they had been putting off for quite some time. Ever since leaving Vacuo, the twins had been making periodic calls to their teammates back at Shade but their recent adventures in Vale had distracted them. Elena had hoped that hearing from her friends would help her feel better, especially since, after so long, she and Edmund were getting ready to finally make a break for it. The only issue, which was proving to be a blow to her good mood and confidence, was the fact that the conversation could have been going better.

'You guys did _what_?'

Elena winced at the sound of Ben Juan shouting. She and Edmund had called their friends from Team OBEE back in Vacuo from their private comm. It might have seemed strange that they'd have such a thing, until one factored in the ever paranoid Nox Skye, who wouldn't have been seen dead in a ship without more transmission signal than a kingdom's Continental Transmission System. Even their deliberately spartan room had a working monitor.

Ben Juan was a dark haired, dark eyed boy in a black, open-necked shirt and vest. He was Elena's partner, which – despite their occasional _verbal sparring_ , as they liked to call it – was just what the two of them had needed. He was a brilliant improviser and flyer and always knew the perfect location for a fight, or a drink, or both. Unfortunately, he also worried too much.

'If I'd know you guys would get yourselves in this much trouble,' he said, 'I would have smuggled myself out there to join you, or taken the...'

Elena held up a hand, trying to quiet him down. 'Like I said, we just got involved in this Red Fang stuff,' she clarified. 'It's not going brilliantly, but we sorta have a hint of what they're planning. We think.'

'I'm not sure I like the uncertainty of your tone,' came the voice of Obadiah "Obi" Kane, Edmund's partner.

On the face of everything Obadiah and Ben were entirely different – Obi was a calm, almost serene presence, with reddish-brown hair, a slight stubble and a loose-fitting kimono, which he normally wore under a brown robe or cloak. Like their father, Obadiah was trained under the old Revanchist warrior-monk religion, but where Nox Skye focused on its martial traditions, Obadiah had become a scholarly and spiritually-aware boy. Like Ben though, he was a perfect foil for his partner – he and Edmund shared a similar Semblance, and for the year and a half they they had known each other, Obadiah had been mentoring the – sometimes uncertain – Skye boy in his skills. Obadiah's influence could be seen in the weapon Edmund wielded – the plasma edged katana, Living Force, inherited from Obadiah's father and passed to Edmund – and in the increasingly Revanchist inspired attire Edmund wore when not forced into military-grade uniforms by Nox.

'It's more complicated than we can explain,' Edmund told Obadiah. 'Suffice to say, we're… I dunno, caught up in something a lot bigger than we could have thought. I don't even know if _Dad_ was expecting anything this big.'

'Though I doubt he objected to taking on Aanjay Laal,' Elena snorted. 'He's wanted that notch on his bedpost for a while.'

'You mean his sword?' Ben asked, frowning.

Elena raised an eyebrow in response. 'I know what I said.'

Ben made a retching sound in response. Obadiah simply crossed his arms.

'It sounds like you need us,' Ben said once he was finished. 'We can...'

'You'd never get here in time,' Edmund interrupted, holding up a hand. 'We're here, you're not. It sucks but that's how it is.'

Obadiah sighed. 'All is as the Universe wills it. I hope you'll be able to manage.'

'We might not be alone,' Elena said. 'There was a team of first years helping us out, investigating this stuff.'

Obadiah stroked his stubble. 'Are they ready?'

'Were we?' Elena countered. 'When Dad's old friend went crazy we had to stop him, right? When the Isolationists tried to launch a coup, we had to deal with them, right?'

'And we paid for it,' Obadiah reminded her heavily. 'The Mace. Team AMST. All of those civilians and other collateral.' He paused and frowned. 'Headmaster Kane.'

Elena closed her eyes. Obadiah's father, the late headmaster of Shade Academy, had been killed by Tyrion Savage, one of her father's old teammates turned psychopathic Isolationist in league with members of a shadowy organisation. It hadn't been a good start to the year, and it hadn't gotten any better.

'If this is that serious,' Edmund put in, 'we owe it to their memories to do our best.'

Obadiah sighed and then nodded slowly. 'I agree.'

'I still don't like this,' Ben interjected. 'I could get the _Eagle_ prepped and...'

'Like I said, there's no time,' Edmund replied. 'The Universe has chosen us, and anyone else who gets involved. That'll have to do.'

Ben sighed. 'Honestly, you guys. You're gone for a month and you get delusions of grandeur.'

Elena chuckled. 'Don't worry scoundrel. We'll be back before you know it.'

'You'd damn well better,' Ben said in response.

'May the Universe guide you,' Obadiah intoned, invoking the prayer of his faith.

'And you Obi,' Edmund replied. 'Wish us luck.'

Obadiah's mouth quirked. 'In my experience, there's no such thing.'

With that, Obadiah pressed a button off screen and ended the call. Edmund and Elena stepped back from the monitor, feeling a little bit more comfortable and then turned to one another.

Elena let out a sigh. 'Well we'd better get to work on that door; or the Universe will be willing us to stay in our rooms while the action's going on.'

'Oh don't worry,' Edmund replied, before motioning to the door, which opened with a click. 'I had that covered ages ago.'

Elena stared slack-jawed at the open door for a moment, before grinning. This certainly made the first part of their escape attempt a lot easier.

'Did I ever say how much I loved you?' she asked her brother.

'Not often,' he retorted with a sly grin and then swept his arms to the door. 'Shall we?'

The two of them went over to the door and Edmund peeked his head out into the corridor. After looking both ways he nodded to Elena, a grin on his face as well. Elena risked a look as well and saw that the corridor was completely empty, their father having apparently decided not to permanently post guards at their door. It made her wonder just how seriously Nox was taking their punishment; it always seemed so backwards and contrarian.

'Dad put our stuff in the armoury and we don't have any way to avoid all of the cameras, so we just have to move quickly,' Elena said.

'Are we taking anything else?' Edmund asked as they stepped out into the corridor.

'Maybe the car,' Elena suggested. 'Depends how long we'll have to hide from him for doing this.'

'We're actually going to be hiding from him?' Edmund said, turning to her with a look of genuine surprise.

'Well we definitely are if we're stealing his car,' Elena responded. 'Even if we're not, we'll probably be in actual trouble for doing this.'

'Won't hiding from him just make him angrier then?' Edmund countered.

'Well if you're actually afraid of making Dad angry now you might as well stay in the room,' Elena shot back.

'Good point,' Edmund agreed with a sigh.

They both crept up to the first bulkhead as quickly as they could. After spending so much time on it, the twins were both very familiar with the basic layout of the Ausfuhrung and even knew their way around some of the restricted sections they were not supposed to have access to.

Walking up to the door Edmund took his student ID out of his pocket and quickly flashed it in front of the door's scanner attached to the access panel. The scanner read the ID and then lit up with a red colour. ' _Access denied_ ,' a mechanical voice announced.

'Worth a try,' Edmund muttered nonchalantly, turning back to his sister.

'Well, that probably alerted someone,' Elena drawled.

'Oh please,' Edmund said in response. 'They knew we got out the moment I opened the door.'

'Fine,' Elena sighed. 'Do you remember the code for these doors?'

'I'll need a few seconds but I think so,' Edmund replied, turning back to the door.

Elena watched the other end of the corridor, feeling slightly nervous as seconds ticked by. It was difficult to tell how exactly their father would react to their misbehaviour. He tended to be strangely lenient despite their offences sometimes being very serious. This time, however, they had already piled one form of trouble on top of another in a short amount of time and already received a punishment. Their current lack of oversight might have implied that their father wasn't taking it that seriously but it didn't necessarily mean he would let them off for escaping this time.

"When's it going to stop being a game?" Elena thought for a second, an unfamiliarly sick feeling in her stomach.

'Got it,' Edmund then said, the sound of his voice followed immediately afterwards by the bulkhead opening.

'Let's go,' Elena said in response, trying to ignore her uncomfortable feelings.

Now that Edmund had remembered the access code for the doors their trip through the Ausfuhrung was a lot easier. They still had to hide every now and then from passing crewmen but it seemed that most personnel were either off-ship or had duties elsewhere as most corridors to the armoury were empty. It still took quite some time but she and Edmund were at the wide central hallway leading to the armoury sooner than they thought they would be.

'There's guards,' Edmund said as he peeked around a corner, staring at the armoury bulkhead.

'Really?' Elena asked, surprised. She risked a quick look and did in fact see that at the end of the long corridor were a pair of Guard Troopers in their white plastalloy armour, heavy semi-automatics in their arms. They were both standing stock-still and at attention, tension in their stances as if they were waiting for any opportunity to make a move.

'They don't look like they'll be easily distracted,' Edmund observed.

'Not in any way we'd want them to be, anyway,' Elena agreed. 'Do you think there's some way we could get past them?'

Edmund looked away for a moment before quietly starting, the index finger of his left hand raised as if he had made a great realisation. 'I have an idea,' he declared. 'I'll just need a second.'

Elena stepped back from the corner as Edmund took her place. Her brother stretched out his right hand a little and adopted a look of intense concentration. It was the expression he made whenever he was trying to wield his Semblance with precision. Like their father, he possessed a form of telekinesis and whilst he had become very skilled in its use he still needed to take time to perform more delicate applications of the ability.

Interested in seeing what he had planned, Elena crouched under him and poked a little bit of her head around the corner, enough to have a view of the other end of the corridor. Edmund muttered to himself for a few seconds as he seemed to focus on the two men and then he clenched his fist.

In an instant both men flew off their feet and towards one another. Elena winced as she saw their heads collide, a sickening crunch echoing across the corridor. The guards then slumped down onto the floor and lay still, their bodies lying in a heap.

'Nice one,' Elena said as she shot out of the corridor and turned to her brother.

'I was trying to nudge them,' Edmund mumbled, his face in a grimace. Elena ignored that as she signalled him to follow her to the bulkhead.

'Okay, Ed,' Elena said cheerfully, turning to her brother. 'Let's get this door open.'

'Alright,' Edmund sighed, apparently still not over his apparent mistake.

Whilst Edmund saw to the access code, Elena inspected the Guard Troopers that Edmund had downed. There wasn't any visible blood and Nox Skye always made sure that his personal forces had their Aura activated. There were noticeable splits and cracks in their helmets though, indicating how hard they had hit one another. Both men were going to be out of commission for a while.

'Got it,' Edmund said, interrupting Elena's musings. 'We're in.'

Grinning, Elena watched as the doors slid open to let them in. in front of them was a massive room filled with neatly organised racks of weaponry. Rifles, handguns, blades and other, less easily identified devices all lay in front of them. There were even rather innocuous looking boxes with noticeable seams in the surface of the metal, indicating they were mecha-shift machines.

'He won't have hidden our stuff,' Elena stated, looking around the room.

'But he won't have left them in the open either,' Edmund added.

'Never mind that,' Elena drawled, giving a dismissive wave. 'We'll have to be quick though.'

'True,' Edmund agreed and then he set off to find Living Force.

Elena nodded and ran her eyes over the racks of weapons in search of Peacemaker. It probably wouldn't be in the smaller slots so she stuck to checking the taller racks where guns and other large devices were kept. As Edmund rummaged around the bladed weapons, Elena tried to find her own amongst the rifles.

'Got it,' Edmund said triumphantly as he pulled an ornate katana off of one of the racks. It was still in its scabbard and Edmund didn't hesitate to strap it onto his belt.

'Any luck?' he asked, turning to her.

'Nothing yet,' Elena answered. She continued to look around until she spotted a cylinder at the end of one of the racks that had several protrusions on it.

'There we are,' Elena said excitedly as she picked up the cylinder, almost cradling it as she brought it close. 'Okay, we're good to go.'

'Great,' Edmund replied. 'Let's get out of here before Dad actually decides to chase us.'

Together they ran out of the armoury, leaping over the, still unconscious, guards and bound down the hallway. The easiest way to get off of the ship was through the main hangar which was connected to Beacon's docks so they headed in the direction of that section of the ship.

Once again the corridors were surprisingly empty. "Okay, even if we're on a skeleton crew now there should be someone," Elena thought with a frown as she and her brother skulked up to the large bulkhead that led to the main hanger. Once they passed through that door there would only be one more room to clear. The only problem was that it was the largest single room on the ship and doubtless had plenty of people in it to witness their escape attempt.

"If the cameras apparently haven't caught us yet then what do crewmen in the hanger really matter?" Elena thought, rolling her eyes at the absurdity of the situation up to this point. "I just don't get Dad, sometimes."

'Think you can get the door, Ed?' Elena asked out loud as her brother bent down to focus on the access panel.

'Uhhhh, gonna need another moment,' Edmund replied. 'The hangers have a different code, but I think I remember it.'

'Alright,' Elena said nonchalantly. As Edmund began to type she leant back against the wall, facing the other way as if she expected someone to appear on the other end of the corridor. She was almost disappointed when the door clicked and began to slide open.

'Got it,' Edmund declared proudly.

'Great,' Elena said in response, smiling wryly. 'Now we just have to clear the hanger and we're free.'

Leaning into to see past the doorway, Elena wasn't surprised to see that she was right; there were plenty of crewmen on duty. Despite not carrying a military complement, the Ausfuhrung never left port without enough supplies to fight the first few battles of a small war. Storage crates were carefully stacked in various positions around the hanger and smaller aircraft, mostly Vacuite Chamrosh gunships, were parked in the centre of the large space. Crew members in stark, white uniforms piloted massive and bulky Atlesian Labourer mech-suits, moving various miscellaneous containers around.

'We're going to have to be quick,' Edmund reminded Elena, receiving a nod of agreement in return.

'Okay,' Elena said, drawing out the word as she continued to scan the hanger for the right moment. 'Go, now!'

The moment she had whispered those words, Elena and Edmund both ran for the obscurity of the containers that ran along the wall. There was a narrow space between the large metal boxes and the hanger wall that had just enough space for the two of them to squeeze into. They were, of course, slowed down by the tight space they were in and once they reached the end, just short of the massive hanger door, Edmund had to check to see if there was anyone nearby.

'So?' Elena asked eagerly, so close to freedom. 'Is there anyone there?'

'It looks like...' Edmund trailed off as his eyes narrowed and he seemed to concentrate. 'Yeah, we're in the clear. Let's go.'

Edmund bolted out from his position and Elena, after a second to make it out from behind the containers, followed after him. They both sprinted through the short space between the container stacks and the open hanger door. Then they were on the ramp that connected the Ausfuhrung's hanger to the docks of Beacon Academy. Elena blinked as direct sunlight replaced the thin, white light of the ship.

They kept running until they were clear of the dock that the Ausfuhrung was moored to. Once they were on the central disc of the structure they slowed down and tried to look nonchalant, searching for cover where they could regroup and think about their next move. They quickly found a small utility building, walked up to the wall facing towards the school and leant against it to catch their breath.

'Right,' Edmund said after a short pause. 'Now we just need somewhere to stay.'

'I'm sure we can just camp in the library or something,' Elena suggested as she took her scroll and student ID and looked at them. 'These'll probably give us away to Dad. We can get meals from the cafeteria.'

Edmund grimaced a little. 'I really don't like the idea of sleeping in the library, especially in this climate.'

'I guess there's those freshmen over here,' Elena put forward offhandedly. She was Edmund frown in distaste at the idea. 'Well where else do we have? Hotels and anything else that needs money could give us away and we don't know anyone else.'

'Fine,' Edmund sighed. Elena wasn't particularly fond of the idea but she did agree with him on her first suggestion despite making offering it herself. The library, their only other realistic option aside from a janitorial closet or utility space, was probably going to end up getting very cold. Winters in Vale were unbearable compared to Vacuo.

'Besides,' she said in an encouraging fashion as she remembered something, 'who knows what's going on over here now? They might be doing something with the Red Fang?'

'Oh, you don't know that,' Edmund declared, looking annoyed. 'Besides, they're the ones who actually got in trouble for that. Why would they go looking for them?'

'Because Dad didn't get all of them and they know that,' Elena countered. 'They're still out there and he'll be hunting them. If something comes up the freshmen can… I don't know, at least let us stay in their room while we figure something out.'

'Fine,' Edmund conceded with a sigh. 'I just don't like troubling people like this.'

'I know,' Elena said with a frown. 'I don't either… but it's either them or a closet.'

Their minds made up, the twins both set off for the first year dormitories. With any luck they could make some kind of arrangement or they would probably end up back on the Ausfuhrung and the indeterminable punishment their father almost definitely had waiting for them.

* * *

'So we basically have no leads?' Greta asked in a despairing tone.

'No-one we can trust anyway,' Tobias Nechten answered. Team JETT were huddled together as they seemed to be discussing acquaintances and friends in their own year, presumably ones who had cars.

'I say we just pile everyone into Jedd's' Egeria declared. We can take the back off, ditch the bikes and just stay together. We don't need to go that far to play lookout.'

'I'd rather have better warning,' Greta said in response with a resigned sigh. 'I guess you're right.'

'Okay,' she then said after a pause, getting everyone's attention. 'So our plan of action when we get there is to split up into separate groups. Group One,' she pointed at herself, 'will go to the site with Aurora whilst Groups Two and Three,' she then pointed at Tom and Jedd, 'will go down separate roads to be lookouts. Does that make sense?'

'More or less,' Peter answered, everyone else nodding along. Despite agreeing with her, Greta could see the numerous doubtful frowns facing her.

'What's wrong?' Greta asked, the sinking feeling that had been settling in her gut growing stronger.

'I...' Tom started and then immediately stuttered, a frown on his face as he seemed to be groping around for words to say.

'We don't see a good reason to split up based on our teams,' Jedd interrupted before Tom could continue. 'There's people who would be a lot better at breaking into this site if the Red Fang are there.'

'And some who would be better being a glorified lookout,' Elizabeth added, folding her arms as she stared Greta down.

'Well we'll need Aurora to go to the site,' Greta countered. 'Just in case the worker crews' still there instead of the Red Fang.'

'Okay but Peter'd actually be better checking to see if they're coming,' Tobias said in response. 'He looks like he'd be able to get back quickly.'

'Same with Adelheid,' Elizabeth added with a smirk.

'Yeah,' Greta agreed, getting odd but hostile looks from the aforementioned Atlesians. 'But what if we do have to fight? Our teams already know how to work and fight together. It'd be safer to stick with our partners.'

The rest of the group looked at one another, some of them nodding a little in agreement. Others still seemed sceptical but, with Tom, nodding in agreement and Jedd somewhat pacified, it looked like she had won the argument. Now that the issue of splitting up was dealt with they could focus more on dividing the group up between their vehicles.

'So?' she began, trailing off for a moment. 'Um, well, who wants to go on the bikes?'

Before anyone could answer, there was a knock at the door. Everyone whirled around, Greta's heart racing at the prospect of getting caught. They hadn't done anything other than talk but their gathering did look somewhat suspicious and she had heard plenty of rumours about the headmaster having cameras all over the school. Glancing around as the knocking stopped, Greta saw that she wasn't the only one scared about who could be behind the door as nearly everyone else had some kind of worried expression on their faces.

'Fine,' Greta muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes. 'I'll get it.'

Picking herself up, Greta walked up to the door and grabbed the doorknob, twisting it and tentatively opening it up. For an instant, she wondered whether or not this made her look suspicious but she was too scared of whoever could be waiting for them all on the other side of the door.

'Hello?' Greta called, trying to keep her voice level as she swung the door open.

'Uh, hi,' a familiar voice called back just as the door opened enough to reveal the person on the other side of the doorway. It took a moment but Greta quickly recognised the voice and the two people who now stood in front of her.

'Elena?' Greta asked as she looked at the mousy-haired girl and then at her brother who was standing just a step behind her and anxiously looking down the hall. 'Wha… what are you doing here?'

'Uh… well, we're kind of looking for a place to stay,' Elena explained. 'Do you mind if we stay with you guys?' Before Greta could answer Elena had peered past her and looked into the room. 'Are you guys doing something?'

'Uuuhhhh,' Greta groaned. She had no idea what exactly to do and just waved the two in. 'Just… just come on in,' she said, feeling tired and resigned. The moment the two had stepped in and leant against a wall, Greta shut the door and turned to them. 'Why do you need to stay with us?'

'We broke out of our dad's ship,' Edmund explained. 'If it's too much trouble we can find somewhere else.'

'Who are you two anyway?' Jedd asked, eyeing the twins closely.

'Edmund Skye,' Edmund answered, he then waved to Elena. 'This is my sister Elena.'

'Skye?' Both Jedd and Egeria asked at the same time, the masked boy raising an eyebrow.

'Yeah, those ones,' Elena drawled. 'You can see why we kinda need a place to stay if we've run away from our dad.'

Greta saw Jedd get up from his seat and walk over to her. Once he was close he leaned in and began to hiss quietly through his mask. 'Do you think we can trust them, or do we carry on this talk later?'

'They were with us when we… last went after the Red Fang,' Greta whispered back.

'So we're including them then?' Jedd asked back. Greta looked him in the eyes and almost shrank back from the oddly intense expression in them, highlighted by the dark material his mask was made of.

'Um...' Greta began as she turned to the Skye twins. 'Do you guys remember going after the Red Fang?'

'Of course,' Edmund replied.

'It was my idea,' Elena admitted, averting her eyes from Greta for a moment. 'Why?'

Greta could tell that the twins knew exactly what she was about to say. 'I was wondering,' she started as she tried to find a way to word her proposal. 'Well, do you guys want to go looking for them again?'

'Of course,' Edmund said, Elena nodding in agreement and giving an affirmative grunt.

'Are you sure that's a good idea?' Aurora asked, earning looks from the twins. 'No offense intended of course.'

'We are lacking space on our vehicles,' Adelheid added, turning to regard the members of Team JETT who nodded in agreement, though most grimaced at the admission.

'Okay,' Elena interrupted, both her arms now up. 'What is it you're doing.'

The rest of the room turned to Greta to fill the twins in. though it took a few minutes, as she listed off the reasoning behind their decisions, she rattled off their plan and the various alternatives they were potentially considering. She just finished explaining the issue regarding vehicles when Elena finally piped up again.

'So let me get this straight,' the Skye twin said, 'your biggest problem right now is actually getting people to this place? Right?'

'Yeah,' Greta answered.

Elena looked at her brother with a knowing smile. For a second Edmund seemed to look shocked at his sister before sighing and nodding along with her. Greta had no idea what had just been wordlessly spoken between the two but it seemed to be significant as Elena's eyes were practically sparkling as she turned back to the room.

'I think we can help you there,' Elena said, a worryingly excited smirk on her face.

* * *

Benedict Cache wasn't one to step into Council meetings but in the trying times he had helped orchestrate, the members needed as much support as they could get and his presence settled many of their consciences. The irony of the situation was not lost on Benedict as he thought about how many lives he had made more difficult with the lies and false confidence he had fed into the politicians.

"The gods truly are cruel beings," Benedict thought. Only a few years ago the blasphemy of his musings would have shocked him but now, after everything he had done, the words were more than appropriate.

The Council session had been going poorly, namely due to it's subject of discussion, the presence and actions of Vacuite Patriarch Nox Skye. His work with the police in what was called the Old Residential District had been a boon to Benedict's clandestine mission but it had also ignited great tension in the government, tension that was finally beginning to reach a tipping point.

He wasn't really paying attention to what was being said, already knowing what the various factions on the Council were focusing on. Li Meng and the pro-intervention group were still the majority but they had lost more and more supporters as the weeks went by and the costs rose. Now Li and his allies had become more worried and more fanatical in their demands to sustain the "war effort" against the Red Fang.

The de-escalation group didn't seem to have a proper leader yet but they regularly rallied around King Aldrick and tried to sway him. The king had become a more frequent attendee of these meetings as the situation in Vale grew more tense and, as a leading authority in the government, he was now being pressured to sway the decision one way or another.

Benedict studied the king, a figure he had seen plenty of times on holoscreens and other media but rarely stood in the same room with. Aldrick was a man of middling years with a broad and muscular fighter's physique. Benedict didn't know if the king was actually an active warrior but it was clear that he had formal training, probably a Huntsman's considering the way he sat so casually on the throne. Soldiers would never be so lax in their appearance. The king had a rather wide face with a square jaw hidden under a short, trimmed beard that was connected by sideburns to the thin moustache above his lip and the hair that he wore in a professional cut. Dressed in his ceremonial, royal uniform – a somewhat militant outfit that bore Vale's national colours – Aldrick was every inch the image of a strong ruler.

'Your majesty,' one of the interventionist Council members, a woman with east Animan features, spoke over the others, 'we must curtail Nox Skye's activities. He cannot be allowed to continue stepping over us. Diplomatic immunity is one thing but he is treating us like we are _his_ subjects, not yours.'

"That's certainly going to get attention," Benedict thought, struggling not to sigh audibly as the statement immediately riled the room up. King Aldrick had turned to look at the man directly but hadn't said a word. The others in the room, however, reacted differently. Council members on both sides of the debate seemed rankled by their fellow's insinuation that they were rolling over for the Vacuite warlord.

'Your accusations are completely out of line,' another Council member finally shouted over the ruckus, pointing a finger at the woman who had previously spoken. Realising he had the room's attention, the man continued. 'Regardless of the issue of Nox Skye, his presence in our kingdom is irrelevant to the discussion at hand.'

'Oh, really?' the woman shot back, regaining some confidence as show spoke. 'You want to de-escalate the fight with our criminal elements don't you? Nox Skye has practically taken command of our police forces and treats them like they're a part of his armies. If you really wanted to bring this conflict in the north to an end you'd back our efforts to shut that despot out of our nation's services.'

The room descended further into chaos as politicians and their attendants threw accusations back and forth. No-one was going to come to blows but Benedict could not remember witnessing such hostility in the Council before. This was what Iseabal wanted, what she had asked him to help propagate but he couldn't help but feel worried at the sight.

'Order!' a crisp authoritative voice suddenly shouted over the arguing Council members. 'I will have order!'

Everyone quieted down as they turned to regard King Aldrick. It was the first time he had spoke since beginning the session and everyone was surprised at his sudden involvement in the debate. King Aldrick shut his eyes for a moment as he drew himself up in his seat and then opened them again to gaze over the room, his eyes focusing on the back of the room and the people waiting along the wall.

'Please,' the king said as he looked at the attendants, 'leave us. This session will now be closed.'

Benedict hesitated for a moment and it seemed he wasn't the only one as many of the other people beside him at the back of the room were surprised by the king's proclamation. It was only after the guards began ushering everyone who wasn't a member of the Council out of the room. Benedict didn't bother trying to protest and simply walked out of the room. He also didn't bother waiting outside the door after it was shut; instead he decided to leave. His work in the Council was done for the day.

The trip back to his apartment was uneventful though people tended to give him space on the trains through the Central District. No-one was scared of him, his priestly attire simply afforded him a form of respect. It was always an odd experience as the people who did look at him usually had expressions that broadcast a desire to approach him but their bodies revealed hesitance, like they were afraid of committing a faux-pas by trying to speak to him first. Normally, he would smile and offer an encouraging nod but today, he felt much less sincere.

As he walked into the apartment building the doorman, George, a close acquaintance by this point, spoke out to him. 'Elder Cache, sir,' George said, switching to a quieter, friendly, almost conspiratorial tone. 'You have a visitor waiting for you. I let them up to your room; I assumed you would want them to wait for you there.'

Benedict tried not to panic at the man openly speaking about Iseabal, as only she could have been let up to his room. Instead he put on a placid smile and let out a small chuckle that was closer to a sigh, the kind of response a man his age would be expected to give after a day in the Council.

'Thank you, George,' Benedict replied. 'I appreciate it.'

'You're very welcome,' George said, nodding his head. 'Have a good evening.'

'I will, thank you,' Benedict said in response; though he didn't really know if he would. Iseabal never abused or attacked him but the control she held over him was really starting to weigh down on his body, mind and soul.

Benedict rushed up to his room, worrying about the speed of the elevator. He wasn't sure why he thought he needed to get there so quickly. Part of him was worried about how Iseabal would react for taking so long, not that she likely knew he had gotten back from the Council. Another part, however, was eager to see her, to hear her voice and, of course, to see if she would be giving him any kind of reward for his work.

"For blasphemy," a small voice in the back of his mind hissed. "For treason."

Benedict shook his head slowly in an attempt to silence the thoughts. He was standing in front of his door, a little out of breath from the exertions he had just gone through. His heart was pounding in his chest, both from trying to get to the room so quickly and the trepidation he felt as he was about to confront Iseabal once again. Catching his breath a little, he put his ID in front of the door's access pad and opened the door.

She waiting for him in the room, sitting on the sofa in the main living space of the apartment and idly flicking through the display on her scroll. As always Iseabal seemed to unsettle him simply with her presence, dredging up bizarre feelings of desire and helplessness just by lounging on the furniture.

'Hello, Benny dear,' Iseabal said in a friendly tone as she switched off her scroll and turned to him, a smile on her face. It didn't match her tone, the expression looking more self-satisfied and superior.

'Hello Iseabal,' Benedict responded. 'Um… can I, can I help you?'

'Oh I'm mostly here to see you,' the young woman said as she rose up from the sofa and walked out of the living room and towards him. 'I've been keeping track of the news in the Council and I have to say that I'm very pleased with what I'm seeing over there. You have done a very, very good job.'

'Thank you,' Benedict replied. He was about to continue when Iseabal finally walked right up to him and began to stroke his face. Her touch was light as it ran over his wrinkles but sent shivers down his body. 'I… is there anything else you need.'

'Oh no, Benny,' Iseabal purred, pressing herself against his body, her head in the crook of his shoulder and her right hand dropping from his face to snake around his back and hug him. 'Not right now. I just wanted to come and thank you for doing this for me. I really do appreciate it.'

Benedict almost froze as she reached up a little and kissed him, her tongue aggressively pushing its way into his mouth. He tried to respond but his own tongue felt rather limp, almost subdued by the woman's as she pulled his head down. Her grip on his face and back became stronger as she levered him down a little.

After what felt like hours Iseabal pulled away from him, taking a small, controlled breath. 'I did promise you a reward for helping me and my cohorts,' the woman said, her smile having morphed into a smirk.

As Iseabal pulled him further into the apartment, Benedict felt any sense of control fade away. He wanted her, deep down, a part of him wanting to let go and enjoy her attentions. At the same time he knew that she controlled him, like he was a slave, or a pet, waiting for orders and getting his small rewards for successfully completing them. She offered her body to him and in return he had given away his soul.


	16. Chapter Sixteen: Seeking The Fang

**Chapter** **Sixteen** **:** **Seeking The Fang** **:**

 **November** **1** **5** **th** **1** **462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

'I've got a bad feeling about this,' Edmund Skye said as he and his sister strolled along Beacon's docks.

'Don't say that,' Elena immediately shot back, her tone and body somewhat tense. 'Saying that's just going to make this all feel worse.'

Edmund didn't say anything else, simply taking a breath and trying to centre himself. The two of them were currently walking across the docks, back up to the Ausfuhrung where it sat, moored to the quay of the academy's skydock to get their contribution to a new search for the Red Fang.

"I can't believe we're actually stealing Dad's car," Edmund cringed internally, the thought crashing through his attempts to balance his mind. "If he catches us he will kill us. He will definitely kill us."

'Ed,' Elena whispered, getting his attention. 'Loosen up; you look like you've got your sword up your ass again.'

Her words were harsh but they did snap him out of his rigid stalking. He couldn't remember feeling this tense, not since they had faced off against the Isolationists and Chairman Paxman the year before. Despite everything Obadiah had taught him about calming his mind and becoming one with the Universe and the energy that flowed around him, the looming figure of his father and what he might do to them if he found out what they were going to do terrified him to his core. It was childish to think that way, it was just a car, one of two identical vehicles and their father did love his children but he also loved his cars and neither he nor Elena had ever dared do anything nearly as risky as attempt to break into one and steal it.

"I am one with the Universe," Edmund chanted in his head, breathing in slowly and steadily through his nose. "I am it's vessel, through which the divine hand of fate flows. I fear nothing, for within the endless reaches of the Universe all is as it should be, and my place within it is clear. I act as I must, for I act as I do, as the Universe wills."

'Okay,' he said quietly when he had completed the mantra, his voice steady. 'I can do this.'

'Glad to hear that, I guess,' Elena drawled from beside him, 'cause we're almost there. It's time to get our heads in the game.'

'Right,' Edmund muttered.

They had gone over the plan before they left Team GRAP's room earlier in the morning, having spent the night sleeping on the floor there. Their plan wasn't really any different from what they had done to escape the Ausfuhrung the day before, sneak in, avoid detection – at least from the personnel that would be immediately around them – and then get into the car and drive out. They would have to move quickly but the rest of the group had already gotten their gear and their vehicles together and would be waiting for them at the access road that led down the plateau to the lake.

Edmund and Elena both made their way to a small utility building along the dockyards that they hid behind. They were finally on the end of the dock, the avenue leading right up to where the Ausfuhrung was moored and waiting. Peaking around the corner of the small shed, both of the twins scanned the area. There were two Guard Troopers waiting at the foot of the ramp, standing at attention and staring directly across from the ship, barely moving. No other crewmen were in apparent view and no cargo or equipment was being loaded or unloaded. On the other side of the ramp, parked on the edge of the dock, were two jet black sports utility vehicles, their father's personal, prized cars, partially obscured by a row of containers that had been set beside the cars.

'Alright, go,' Elena ordered. 'Now.'

They both ran fast, crouched down to obscure their faces and lower their profile. Sprinting along the edge, Edmund risked a glance over the lip of the dock and saw the long drop down to the lake at the bottom of the plateau. The height didn't frighten him – he had seen much more terrifying sights in the past couple of years – but he quickly looked back, trying to ignore the great, empty space beneath him.

It took several seconds but they soon reached the container row. There was a narrow space between them and the edge of the dock that Edmund and Elena ran along until they were next to their goal, the containers hiding them from the guards that were now staring in their direction.

'You got a plan to get in?' Elena asked.

'I'm going to get in the same way I got took out those guards yesterday,' Edmund replied. 'My Semblance should be able to trip the lock.'

'Just don't throw the car off the dock,' Elena chuckled, a hint of tension in her voice as she smirked.

Edmund snorted in both amusement and slight irritation and then reached his hand out towards the car, concentrating intensely. He had rarely used his Semblance in such a delicate fashion and wasn't sure if he could really use to set off the car mechanisms safely. As he reached out with his Semblance, the power and light of his soul drifting over his surroundings, he began to centre himself again, Obadiah's teachings coming to mind once again.

'I am one with the Universe,' he mumbled as the alien sensation of feeling with his Semblance let him feel his reach enter the car's interior. 'I am the arm of the Universe.'

Though he didn't understand the device he was running his extended Aura over he knew that this particular portion of the car's internal machinery was what he was looking for. Trusting his instincts, he let his Semblance exert pressure on several parts of the mechanism, sliding them into new positions until he felt a click.

Apparently the click had been quite audible as Elena noticed as well. 'Now!' she barked, dashing forward to the car door.

It took him a second to get back from his meditative stance and in that time Elena had bound forward, grabbed the unlocked door, thrown it open and jumped in. At the same time it seemed the guards had noticed them as well.

'Halt,' one of the them shouted as both armoured men began to jog forward, their guns held ready.

'Ed!' Elena shouted from inside the car, finally jarring him back to his senses. He bolted forward, practically diving into the car. He pulled the door shut and Elena engaged the lock again before the guards could reach them.

'Open this door right now!' one of the guards shouted as his comrade began to fiddle with the lock, trying to engage it.

'Move over,' Elena barked as she leaned down under the steering column and drew Peacemaker. She pressed a series of buttons on the spear-rifle's folded cylinder and drew the spear-tip.

Edmund winced as she used the blade to force off the cap of the ignition system and then gently stabbed into it. Twisting the spear, Elena smirked as the engine immediately gunned to life.

'You can thank me now,' Elena said with a self-satisfied look on her face.

Rolling his eyes, an amused smirk on his own face, Edmund grabbed the gear-stick and steering wheel, pushing the car forward just slowly enough to ward the guards back. Once they were out of the way he stepped on the accelerator and rocketed forward along the dock, dodging the utility buildings and scattering the people that had previously been swarming the skydock landing platforms.

People threw themselves out of the way as they saw the vehicle hurtling towards them but Edmund wasn't worried. He was a fantastic driver, prodigious even in his ability to handle anything with an engine and steering system. What actually scared him was the fact that they had committed a major taboo and whilst he could finally admit to himself that he wanted to do what he and Elena had signed up for, they had crossed a seriously crossed a line with their father.

'We are so dead,' Edmund mumbled as he realised they had actually stolen their Dad's car. Elena grunted in resigned agreement as they expertly drove away from the docks and to the utility road, ready to meet up with the rest of the group.

* * *

'I can't stay here long,' Nox Skye rumbled as he stepped out of the elevator into Jaune Arc's office. 'I've finished regrouping my resources and need to return to hunting the Red Fang.'

'Yeah… I'm afraid that's why we called you here,' Jaune replied, still sitting in his chair. He sounded frustrated and had an irritated frown on his face as he indicated a seat for Nox, the chair rising out of the floor as he approached Jaune's desk.

'What is it?' Nox growled through his helmet as he stalked over and loomed over his seat, not actually taking it.

'The Council has decided to officially freeze you out of any and all investigations and operations being conducted by the Valesian military and police force,' the gravelly voice of John Smith stated as he stepped forward. Nox was surprised that he hadn't noticed the man when he arrived but that was quickly replaced by recognition of what the older man had just said to him.

'I… have been… frozen out?' he asked, already knowing the answer but demanding clarification nonetheless.

'Yes,' John replied in a passive, professional tone. 'The government will continue to respect your diplomatic privileges but you no longer have access to government records and are forbidden from interfering or influencing any missions or operations the police undertake.'

Nox turned to Jaune to see him nodding, a sigh escaping his lips as he stared back at Nox's mask. For an instant Nox let a tense silent permeate the office as an odd feeling bubbled up inside of him. Rage against this new and frustrating development, contempt for bureaucratic politicians who saw fit to interfere with a war effort he had made progress with barely any effort and irritation over the fact that he would have to reorganise all of his plans. All of these emotions boiled up to the surface and manifested in a deep, dark laugh.

Nox first chuckled but soon found, in an instant, that he was suddenly laughing long and loud, the contempt and anger mixing into an amusement even he couldn't really identify. His helmet caused the noise to reverberate and distort, discomforting the other two men in the room as they watched him laugh and waited.

'Interesting,' Nox finally said after he had recovered his composure and breath. 'In a matter of weeks, I have managed to bring a campaign they have been fighting for months almost to a successful close. I have successfully led the police to the Red Fang, fought through a crime infested cesspit to find them, stormed their strongholds and defeated Aanjay Laal in personal combat and they have decided, following this...,' and here he let out another chuckle, 'to… _freeze me out_?'

'The Council don't like that you're leading Vale's police forces without going through them first,' Jaune replied, sounding unconvinced with the explanation he was giving.

'I requested the appropriate requisition rights and was granted them,' Nox shot back, still sounding amused. 'I had every right to take command of your police. You'll forgive me if it sounds like they're more upset that I do a better job of dealing with _their_ problems than _they_ have.'

'We don't sit on the Council Nox,' Jaune said, frowning at Nox and meeting his gaze. 'We've just been told to break the news to you.'

'Ah, you're being their messenger boys?' Nox sneered.

'We don't have any say in this,' John replied, stepping forward again so that he was directly beside Jaune. 'We don't hold any political power in the Council and in return they don't influence school policy.'

Nox scoffed, his helmet making it sound like an alien snarl. 'I see. So, they will simply let everything return to how it was before I arrived? The Red Fang will recover as your council's mediocre… _forces_ … stumble around in a vain attempt to locate them at the behest of people who have never seen a second of actual combat. And you? Will you just sit here waiting for them to give you permission to join in?'

'We don't need permission,' Jaune said. 'I've already begun to recall top level Hunters to help with the investigation.'

'And how long will they take to arrive and be briefed?' Nox asked.

'As long as it does,' Jaune replied, his frown now deeper. 'Most of them are in the field and need time to get back to Vale.'

'I see,' Nox said, sounding unconvinced.

'I know you're not exactly impressed but it doesn't matter,' Jaune said quietly. 'I'm sorry Nox but this isn't really a debate or a request. You have been frozen out and you're forbidden from taking part in the investigation. Our paperwork will be processed soon anyway so we'll need you here to verify everything.'

'Very well,' Nox rumbled as he turned to leave, contempt in his tone. 'I wish you luck in your investigation, _Professor_. You're probably going to need it.'

'Nox,' Jaune said quietly. 'Please don't do anything stupid to get involved.'

Nox turned back to face him. 'In what capacity is that request made, Professor?'

'In my capacity as your friend,' Jaune replied.

Nox chuckled again. 'Most of _my_ friends are either dead, betrayed me to serve the Society, or both. I wouldn't count yourself amongst that number so readily.

'I _am_ your friend, Nox,' Jaune insisted, still speaking quietly. 'Which is why I'm saying, don't do anything stupid. Don't let the authorities catch you sticking your nose in.'

Nox simply inclined his head. 'On this, Professor Arc, you may be assured; they won't.'

'Goodbye, Nox,' Jaune said with a sigh, as Nox walked back into the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor.

The moment the elevator doors were shut Nox gave a small sigh that hissed through his helmet. Reaching up, he pressed a button on his helmet and activated the transmitter within. It was built with a communicator and heads-up display that saved him from carrying the much more vulnerable scrolls. An interactive holographic keypad built into his left vambrace allowed him to control the display. He had, however, shut it off before entering the office to prevent distractions. Now that he had shut it off, he saw a series of missed calls from his flagship that had built up in the last few minutes.

Nox was just about to select one of the missed calls to return it when another message appeared in his display. It was yet another call from the bridge of the Ausfuhrung. Frowning, Nox pressed down on his vambrace and answered the call.

'This is Skye,' he said, speaking into the communicator in his helmet.

'Patriarch,' the voice of a crewman replied. The man sounded nervous and his speech was slightly halting. 'I am terrible sorry to interrupt you but we have a problem that needed your urgent attention.'

'What is it?' Nox asked in an even tone. He was still irritated by the earlier news he had received but he needed to get himself back under control.

'I'm afraid that someone...' the man paused and coughed over the communicator. 'Someone was able to break into one of your cars and stole it. They were last seen driving it into one of the utility tunnels but we were too late to apprehend them and they seem to have located the tracking device and disabled it.'

Nox paused, renewed anger crashing through him like a wave. He felt the urge to reach out with his Semblance to crush something but knew that all it would do is strand him in the elevator he was still standing in. Trembling in barely suppressed rage, he took several moments to call down enough to be able to respond coherently.

'Did you at least catch sight of whoever stole my property?' Nox asked, his tone, once again, a controlled, measured and intimidating rumble.

'The guards we posted at the docking ramp claimed that they looked like your children, sir,' the crewman said. 'Unfortunately they weren't able to verify this.'

'I'm quite sure it was them,' Nox said in response. 'No-one else in Beacon would have dared try anything like this.'

'We have sent some of the guards out and we requested Beacon's security camera footage as well as access to cameras in the city to locate your car, but we've been locked out of their systems,' the crewman nervously continued.

'Yes,' Nox snarled. 'I was just made aware that we have been frozen out of their police forces. If we are going to find them we will need to do it ourselves. Ready my car and our best soldiers in the division, tell them to dress in casual clothing. We will be going… _undercover_.'

'Of course, Patriarch,' the crewman replied. 'I will see to it right away.'

Nox switched off the communicator and breathed through his nose to calm down. He had finally reached a state of focus, his old training granting him an immediate sense of direction and drive. Receiving two very annoying pieces of news in short, consecutive order and the disruption of his plans in Vale had left him unbalanced but he would adapt. Once he had his men he would get back his car, find his children and then make arrangements to ensure he could continue to operate as he preferred. He already had the Red Fang on the ropes, all this disbarment would do is slow him down.

He smiled beneath his helmet, and for a moment felt a little thrill of adrenaline. "I wasn't lying, Jaune. Your authorities won't catch me doing anything."

* * *

Greta rubbed her forehead with her hands, letting out a long, tired sigh as she waited. She and the rest of her team, along with Teams TEAL and JETT were waiting at the bottom of the primary utility road at the foot of the Beacon plateau, the lake and Beacon's dockyard stretching in front of them. Jedd had arrived with a sleek, black light-duty truck that had two black motorcycles strapped in the back and red stripes painted on the sides of the truck body. A symbol of golden stallion with a burning mane was painted on the door of the cabin as well.

She guessed there was enough room to carry several more people with the bikes as Team JETT had arrived with Tobias and Thaba standing in the back whilst Jedd was in the driver's seat and Egeria was next to him. They had parked the truck on the quay and waited inside since then, chatting with the others but staying in what looked like constant state of readiness. There was a large service ferry waiting at the dock, moored to one of the quays, ready to begin boarding. All they needed now was the Skye twins and their car to arrive.

'You'll smear your makeup,' Peter said as he sat beside her on a raised concrete wall.

'Thanks, Peter,' Greta moaned sarcastically.

'They'll be here,' Tom added with a sympathetic smile. 'Don't worry.'

'Thanks,' Greta repeated, sounding just as harsh despite his attempts at support.

They returned to being silent shortly after that. Everyone who wasn't nervous, like her, was bored and everyone, no matter what they felt, seemed to be trying to distract themselves somehow. Most of the group were checking their weaponry, Aurora had her bag full of ammunition clips which she went through every now and then, checking she had the right Dust rounds, Elizabeth periodically switched her axe on and off, checking to see the teeth were rotating on the chain correctly and Adelheid handed out Dust clips and vials to people, making sure they had fuel for the mission.

The quiet and tense atmosphere stretched on, with the exception of brief periods where the irritated ferryman came up and asked how much longer the rest of their group would take. Then, it was over. A massive, black sports utility vehicle rumbled through the tunnel mouth and parked just next to Jedd's truck. The windows were black and impossible to see through and for a moment Greta wondered if it really was the Skye's and not some kind of official who had come to take them back.

'You're sure it's switched off?' a familiar voice asked as one of the doors opened. Out stepped Edmund who was still facing the inside of the car.

'I could shoot it if that'd help?' Elena replied as the door on the other side opened and let her out.

'What took you so long?' Greta gasped out, exasperation, relief and gratitude – to what, she wasn't exactly sure – warring inside of her.

'Sorry,' Edmund said, raising his hands as he did so, a small round object held tightly in his left. 'Turns out that Dad tracks all of his stuff. We had to stop to get it out and disable it. Then we took a few side tunnels; you know, just in case they had already started following us.'

'Well at least you're here now,' Greta said with a small sigh of relief. 'We need to get on the boat now. The captain's been getting angry with us.'

'Right,' Edmund said as he stepped back into his vehicle.

Greta heard the sound of engines gunning and turned to see that JETT had started up the truck as well and were already moving it onto the ferry. A second later the massive black car followed, easily moving onto the ship as Team TEAL and the rest of Team GRAP walked on behind it. Greta sighed, realising that they were finally going to begin their mission and walked onto the ferry as well.

* * *

The trip through Vale hadn't been particularly eventful. After disembarking from the ferry once they reached the other side of the lake, they had driven down to the main transport terminal in eastern Vale and then picked a car-carrier train down south to the massive agricultural district. Now they all sat in one of the massive steel containers, one of several dozen that was attached to one of the powerful Dust powered train engines that directed them along the magnetically accelerated maglev rail lines that went through the entire kingdom.

Greta was sat on the top of the cabin of Jedd's truck, holding onto the truck's body to steady herself and gripping it a little tighter whenever she felt the train turn a corner. Despite barely rocking at all she felt nervous travelling on a machine she knew was hurtling along the rail at hundreds of miles an hour. Setting off had been especially nerve-wracking as the accelerating speed hadn't been equalised and she had almost been thrown to the floor by the force of the maglev train's building momentum.

'Okay,' Tom said. 'Since we're almost at the district we should just make it clear one last time who's going where.'

'I thought we'd already agreed on the plan?' Elena remarked, giving the small boy a questioning look.

'I just want to be clear,' Tom replied. 'Since Jedd has his own car.'

'Truck,' Jedd interrupted, putting his right hand up as if he was making a point.

'Thanks,' Tom said automatically, as if he hadn't been cut off. 'So I think he and JETT should go by themselves down the west road and take a watch there. Also they can drop GRAP off just before they get to the building site.'

'Alright,' Jedd said, 'but why are we taking the west road?'

'Your truck's more inconspicuous,' Tom answered. 'An armoured car is probably going to alarm the Red Fang if they see it.'

'So we'll be taking the east road then?' Edmund asked.

'And we'll be accompanying you as well,' Tom added. 'I'm sure your father's car could easily fit us.'

'We'll get off and walk on the east road,' Greta declared, earning nods of agreement from the others. 'We'll also have to do it a few miles from the site, just to be safe.'

'Right,' everyone else agreed, the rest of Team GRAP also nodding in understanding.

'So we're all clear on who's going where?' Tom asked one last time. He smiled satisfactorily when he received affirmatives from the others and settled down to wait for the journey to end.

The others also dispersed a little, many of them chatting with the others. The tense atmosphere that had permeated the entire group when they were waiting at the docks was gone, replaced with the kind of relaxed and casual activities seen when they were about to go on a trip down to Vale. Greta felt almost sick at the surreal site, fear gnawing a pit in her stomach as she found it impossible to ignore that they were actually on their way to a site by the walls that the Red Fang were planning to attack.

"Come on," Greta berated herself in her head. "This was my idea. Stop being scared."

'Are you alright?' the voice of Peter asked, startling Greta from her thoughts. She turned and saw her partner sit down next to her on the cabin, a concerned expression on his face.

'Oh, I, I'm fine, thanks,' Greta replied with a weak smile. 'Why'd you ask?'

'Well,' he began and then paused, making an uncomfortable face. 'It's because I wanted to apologise.'

'What?' Greta asked, confused at what he had said.

'I said I want to apologise,' Peter clarified. 'I… well I haven't really been a very good partner the past few days… or weeks, really.'

'What do you mean?' Greta asked, genuinely confused. 'What are you talking about.'

'Greta,' Peter said with a sigh, 'when you told us why you wanted to do this I realised that I wasn't helping you. Even all of this,' he swept his right arm out, indicating the large carriage they sat in, 'you had to do practically by yourself.'

'Y… you,' Greta faltered as she struggled to think of how to respond to this. A part of her did feel bitter towards Peter now that he did bring up his lack of support but she pushed it down. 'You don't have to help me with everything, you know.'

'I should be there to help you with something like this though,' he countered. 'You helped me when I…' he petered off, giving her a look that immediately reminded her of his episode in the Old Residential District and the breakdown after they had gotten back to the dormitories.

'I get it,' Greta said after a second and then smiled. 'Thank you.'

'It probably doesn't mean much but I'm going to try to improve,' Peter declared, smiling a little in return. 'I know this sounds a little melodramatic but I do mean that.'

'I guess I'll hold you to it then,' Greta said in response.

'Thank you,' Peter replied, sighing a little through his nose. He then looked at her with an expression of small concern. 'So, are you alright?'

'I…' Greta began and then she paused. 'I don't know,' she admitted after second, the thoughts and trepidation she had been trying to suppress coming to the front of her mind again. 'This is what I want but I… I feel scared.'

'I guessed,' Peter said in response, smiling a little again. 'You have been looking nervous.'

'I guess I'm obvious aren't I?' Greta asked in a depressed tone.

'It's alright,' Peter said. 'You have us; me, Aurora, Rapture, we're all here with you,' he then smiled. 'You also have TEAL and JETT as well. We all agreed to come here because of you. We believe in this, and in you too.'

'Thanks, Peter,' Greta said, her smile becoming a little bit stronger. 'I guess I needed this.'

'Well you did the same for me,' Peter responded.

'Thanks,' Greta repeated. She felt a little better though her fear still writhed in her stomach a little.

She looked at Peter who was now gazing across at the rest of the group and felt a little bit more comfortable as she stared at her partner. He had shown a little hesitance just a second ago but now he looked confident again, something she wished she could so easily switch to. Sighing through her nose, she turned and looked in the same direction he was.

Everyone was there, all of them looking strangely relaxed. Tom was in the middle of his own team, going over things with them all. Adelheid was listening intently but seemed to be making what Greta assumed were what she thought were corrections, Elizabeth looked bored and Lach, whilst seeming attentive, looked rather laid-back as he waited. Team JETT, on the other hand, were keeping themselves busy looking over the vehicles they had brought, Jedd directing them but not rally pressing any issues, the entire team obviously knowing what they were all doing without any intervention. Sitting on top of their large armoured car, the Skye twins were chatting amongst themselves.

"They're all here because of me," Greta thought, squirming as the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach became stronger. "Oh gods, they're here because of me."

'I've got Peter. I've got Aurora. I've got Rapture. I've got these guys,' she mumbled inaudibly to herself. 'My partner's here with me. My team's here with me. My friends are here with me. I've got them. I've got this.'

Clenching her fists, Greta steeled herself and tried to force the churning feeling down. It was too late to feel scared now. She had made her choice and gotten this far. Now she had to see her decision through to the end and lead them all. Privately though, a small part of her vehemently hoped that they wouldn't run into the Red Fang even as she tried to prepare herself for if they appeared.

* * *

Vale's Agricultural District was one of the single largest farming regions in all of Remnant, a massive, almost unbroken, series of crop-growing fields, animal pastures and orchards and the breadbasket of not only the Kingdom of Vale but much of the surrounding area of Sanus as well. Vast fields, currently barren from the autumn harvests, stretched on and on, punctuated by large cylinders topped by flattened disks ringed by small, black nozzles designed to spray water and pesticides over great distances to water and protect the crops.

Interspersed amongst these sprinkler towers were other cylindrical structures that would normally let out a loud, low noise at regular intervals to scare away birds. Both of these structures now sat silent and static, currently unneeded as the fields had yet to be sown again. Gantry bridges connected these devices to one another, ensuring any physical personnel would not disturb the seedbeds beneath them. In the distance sat large metal boxes covered in the seams that denoted mecha-shift technology. They were the automated seed-sowers and harvesters that would be activated in the spring, fold out into large, multi-armed vehicles and prepare the fields for planting. The entire district was a display of nature that had been utterly tamed by civilisation and reworked to benefit and support the urban centres to the north and west.

Greta looked out over the fields as they sped by her. She was currently sat in the back of Jedd's truck, one of the motorcycles rattling in it's harness next to her. Surprisingly, despite being so close to the construction site, she felt strangely relaxed. It was hard to pin down why but Greta found her worries were soothed by the sight of the fields that stretched on to the horizon, separated by hedgerows, concrete walls and fencing and the machinery responsible for working the district.

Turning away from the side of the road, she saw the large, black and very intimidating Skye car behind them. For a moment she thought what it would be like to be chased down by the armoured behemoth. Looking away from the other car, she then took in her team who were also with her in the back.

Peter was lounging at the back of the truck, idly looking over the bikes with a contemplative frown on his face. Aurora was on the opposite from Greta looking out over the fields with a more wary expression, like a sentry. Rapture, however, seemed agitated and restless, fidgeting a little in her spot between the motorcycles, an inscrutable look on her face. For a second, Greta wondered if this was because they were going to possibly be facing the Red Fang again. She had noticed that the faunus girl had been in an odd series of moods since their last excursion and even thought she supported this mission it looked like she still had issues with it.

Greta leaned back into place, turning back to the fields. She sat there for several minutes but this time she couldn't just lose herself in the scenery. Seeing Rapture in such a disturbed state had suddenly left Greta feeling odd and unsettled. Sighing, she reached over to the back of the truck's cabin and knocked on the rear window. A second later Tobias Nechten opened it up and peered through the opening.

'Yeah?' the brown-haired boy said.

'Do you know how close we are?' Greta asked, feeling a little awkward now that she had actually gotten his attention.

'About a couple of miles from where we're dropping you off,' Tobias immediately answered. 'You actually might want to get ready about now.'

'Thanks,' Greta said in response. She then turned back to her teammates and raised her voice. 'We'll be getting off soon.'

The moment she was done speaking her team seemed to leap into action. Rapture tried to be the first, checking her gauntlets – currently in their folded, bracelet form – were secured and in place but Peter and Aurora already had their weapons in their hands, the two of them going over their own equipment. Once he was done straightening his coat Peter also turned around and waved to the Skye's car, signalling to them that they were almost at their first objective. The Skye's responded by flashing their lights.

They remained in anticipatory silence for the rest of the trip. Greta could the tension in the group and whilst it wasn't because of animosity towards one another, it felt both awkward and uncomfortable. She risked a few glances at Peter who was frowning but replied with nods that she was sure were supposed to be encouraging. Her courage wasn't necessarily bolstered by her partner's gestures but they did break up the discomforting feelings that were still settled over her.

Finally, Tobias gave a knock on the window of the cabin and opened it. 'We're here,' he said. 'Everyone off. We'll go on ahead a few more miles down the road. Call us if anything happens.'

'Right,' Greta said with a nod as the truck slowed to a halt.

Team GRAP disembarked from the truck, Jedd offering them a thumbs-up as he accelerated his vehicle once again. Greta waved back, nodding and forcing a confident smile onto her face. Thankfully, the worry hadn't returned as strongly as it had been before. She felt oddly tranquil, like she did when she confronted Grimm, the mission lying ahead now seeming a little bit more clear to her now.

'We'll stay here,' Tom's voice shouted from behind her.

'Great,' Greta said as she span around to see the Skye car parked a few metres behind her, Tom's head and torso sticking out of the sunroof. 'We'll call you if something happens.'

'Right,' Tom replied, waving at them and offering a look of encouragement as Greta turned and began to walk down the road, turning to wave back at him just before setting off.

The walk to the construction site was rather tense, no-one daring to talk as they strode down the road. On one side of them, across the paved road, were the endless fields of the Agricultural District and their long lines of automated farming equipment. On the other side of the team, however, was something Greta hadn't really been paying attention to; the Vale Defensive Wall.

The walls were a series of massive defensive structures and barriers that stretched around the entirety of Vale. Though the nation's natural features made for a good defence against the Grimm and were responsible for human settlement having survived for so long and developed so much, the paranoia of humanity had made them insufficient once towns had turned into cities and cities into kingdoms. For centuries the people of the Valesian Basin had built upon the difficult terrain, erecting walls, fortresses and vast networks of obstructions to prevent Grimm and outside invaders from entering through the few passes through the Barrier Mountains of the east.

When Cinder Fall had begun the Witch War the nation had been thrown into chaos and the Grimm, which had been gathering on the border, had come in force. Manned garrisons were overrun but the walls had held in most places, forcing the Grimm through only a few of the more exploitable thoroughfares. Of course, that hadn't really slowed down Cinder and Salem's forces and eventually, she was able to coordinate a campaign of systematic demolition that brought down thousands of miles of reinforced concrete and steel. Ever since then the people of Vale had been trying to rebuild what had taken centuries of construction, refinement and improvement to establish; in a fraction of the time, no-less.

Greta looked up at the imposing structure, a faceless monolith of grey concrete further strengthened by gunmetal coloured panels of alloyed metal. Turrets intersected the wall at regular intervals, massive, unmanned gun batteries placed atop them. She knew from her classes that maglev rails ran along the top of the entire half-mile tall construct that allowed the weapon emplacements to slide atop the wall to wherever they could be needed, additional rails allowing multiple batteries to move along and around one another.

In places, the external armour was patchy, with holes in the protective layers of plating. There were also cranes and other construction equipment along the wall, standing idle and unused around large stacks of construction material, all cordoned off behind portable fencing and barriers. It was clear that, though the main wall was already up and secure, there was still a lot of work that still had to be done before the whole thing was complete.

Looking further along the road, the exact same structure stretched on towards and over the horizon and Greta knew that it did the exact same behind her, encircling the entire kingdom. This immense defensive complex was Vale's guardian on the border, built to keep the endless hordes of Grimm at bay. Now it was their job to save it.

'My father was so proud when he got the contract for this,' Aurora suddenly said, breaking the silence around them.

'What?' Greta grunted, turning to look at her teammate.

'This,' Aurora repeated, indicating the wall. 'This is my family's work and my father had never looked happier when he told my mother that he had been given the project.' The dark-skinned girl's face then fell into a melancholy expression. 'My father once actually said this was going to be his magnum opus. Gods, I hope we don't actually find anyone there.'

Greta looked her teammate in the eye and saw she looked upset and nervous, occasionally glancing forlornly at the unfinished portions of wall. After nearly a minute of this behaviour Aurora then sighed, pulled her sniper-rifle a little higher on her shoulder and then looked straight forward with a sad frown on her face. Greta thought about saying something but stopped as she looked a little bit more at Aurora and realised she didn't want to talk.

Once again, silence descended on the group and they tensely strode along the wall. Finally, the rows of construction equipment were replaced by a large network of smaller walls and barriers. Iron fencing formed a massive perimeter that stretched out of one section of the wall and towards the road. Behind them were higher prefabricated wall panels that were slotted together to obscure whatever was behind them from view. Stapled onto the bars of the fencing and the faces of the wall panels were a variety of signs, many of them warning people about the kinds of dangers that would normally be found on a construction site. What really got Greta's attention, however, was a corporate name repeated in large white print on every segment of the wall with a royal purple border; "Basilikos Construction."

'We're here,' Greta said, mostly to herself before turning to her teammates and raising her voice a little. 'Do you see anything?'

'There's no-one on the outside,' Aurora replied, frowning as she scrutinised the sight before her.

'There's a lot of smells mixing,' Rapture adding, wrinkling her nose and snorting in disgust.

'I can't really pick up on anything specific either,' Peter then said, his eyes possessing the far-away look he gave when he was using his Semblance's odd radar effect. 'There's definitely a lot of movement but I'm having trouble picking up anything concrete.'

'Alright,' Greta sighed. 'Thanks guys. Looks like we'll have to take a look inside.'

Nodding in agreement, Team GRAP followed after their leader and jogged up to the boundary of the compound. Despite herself, Greta wanted to be cautious. She kept a wary eye on the top of the smaller walls and tried to maintain a low profile. Greta's heart pounded in her chest as she ran along the edge of the fences until she saw what looked like an opening in the compound.

'There's the gate,' she whispered to her team. Receiving nods in return, Greta jogged over to the entrance and took a look inside.

'There should be someone here,' Aurora hissed, concern in her tone. Greta looked into the tollbooth that stood in the middle of the wide gateway and saw that no-one was inside.

'Everything's off as well,' Peter added, pointing out the de-activated security and traffic control lights that would normally be lit. They could hear noise from further inside the compound but the entrance was completely abandoned.

"Great," Greta thought as her fears were all but confirmed. "They've gotta be here."

'Alright,' she sighed. 'Let's go in.'

Greta then jogged forward, still keeping a low profile as she snuck past the gate, tensing for the sound of warning klaxons. The security system, however, remained shut down and silent as the entire team crept through the entrance and into the compound.

Past the entrance were piles of construction materials. Great stacks of boxes labelled "concrete," large rows of steel rebar and other miscellaneous items surrounded them, reaching up into the sky. A great avenue cut through the materials, leading up to the wall far away. Massive construction vehicles were also parked around the compound almost haphazardly. Greta felt a little uneasy, an almost childish sense of intimidation taking over her as she gazed up at the gargantuan cranes and bulldozers – each of them larger than most military war machines – that loomed over her and her team.

'The foreman's office should be at the back, near the wall,' Aurora stated as she looked around. 'There should be people here though.'

'Well we've got fresh tracks here,' Rapture suddenly announced. Turning to her faunus teammate, Greta saw Rapture bending down on one knee, peering at the ground. Just as she said, there were numerous tire marks in the main avenue leading towards the wall. Boot marks were also interspersed among them.

'How can you tell?' Greta asked.

'They smell fresh,' Rapture answered in a matter of fact tone.

'Alright,' Greta said, trusting Rapture's senses. By this point there wasn't really any reason to argue with her. 'Can you pick up anything else?'

'Nature,' Rapture unhelpfully supplied in a flat tone. 'Oil, some left over body odour and whatever they're treating this stuff with.' She indicated the material. 'It's really hard to get anything that specific here, especially people. Aurora's dad hiring faunus doesn't really help either cause I can't pick out whether they're workers or the Red Fang.'

'Right,' Greta said, a little dumbfounded at how specific Rapture had just been. 'Uh, thanks.'

'If the tracks are going where we need to be then we should probably make our through the building materials and avoid the main road,' Peter suggested.

'He's right,' Aurora agreed. 'We don't want to get spotted and we could find some security officers or someone else to help us.'

'Yeah,' Greta said, nodding in agreement. 'We'd better get this over with. Come on.'

Their course chosen, Team GRAP jogged off of the path and into the stacks of rebar. It was like moving through a labyrinthine and, on occasion, the group had to help one another climb over the materials when there were no paths between them. Greta wanted them all to conserve their Aura and make as little noise as possible and so the journey was slow and somewhat frustrating. Finally, after weaving their way through countless rows of miscellaneous items, vehicles and material piles, they were approaching the foot of the wall and, more importantly, could hear activity.

'You hear that?' Greta asked.

'Hang on,' Peter suddenly interrupted. He stood still, shut his eyes and seemed to stiffen as he concentrated. Greta swore she felt something tickle her Aura for a second.

Peter stood still for several seconds until suddenly his eyes snapped open again. 'They're here.'

'The Red Fang?' Greta asked. Peter nodded in affirmation and Greta's heart sank. "Oh gods."

'Do you know what they're doing?' Aurora asked, now very concerned.

'I couldn't really sense anything that specific but they do still have all of those vehicles with them,' Peter said in response.

'Do you still think we can make it to that office?' Rapture asked, turning to Greta.

Greta paused for a moment as she tried to make a decision; now that she now knew that the Red Fang were already at the site. They could go and try to call the authorities or leave and try to find some other way to safely make an anonymous call to alert the authorities.

"The nearest other phone's gonna be miles away," Greta conceded silently, struggling not to groan. "And we can't just leave them alone while we try to find it."

'Shit,' Greta mumbled as the only real option became inevitably apparent to her. 'Alright guys,' she said, raising her voice, 'we're gonna try and see if the foreman's office is free.'

Her teammates glanced at one another for a moment, checking to see if anyone was going to object and then nodding. Sighing in an attempt to calm herself down, Greta led them through the last few avenues until they found themselves in front of what seemed to be the last wall of storage containers, various smaller boxes stacked on top of them in an undulating line. Looking to the left and right it seemed they were an unbroken wall that they would have to climb over.

'Right,' Greta began, 'we're gonna climb over this and then check the area out. Everyone has to keep out of sight.'

'Understood,' the others side, nodding in agreement.

Peter was he first to go, throwing one of his stakes, the length of chain he often attached them to following after it. He then activated the motor inside his coat and was pulled up to the top of the container wall by the chain. Once he was up he retracted the chain and then threw it down, securing himself to help pull the others up. Rapture was the first to go, pulling herself up the chain, followed by Aurora and, finally, Greta.

Once she was safely on top of the containers she ducked down and then crept up to the smaller boxes that rose up and down like crenellations on a castle wall. She then peeked over the top, looking down into the open space at the foot of the wall and saw her worst fears were, indeed, confirmed.

Dozens of Red Fang were swarming the compound, every one of them running around arranging large stockpiles of weaponry and other materials they had brought. Most were unloading crates, the kind she had seen in their warehouse back in the Old Residential District, onto the ground, opening them and distributing equipment. Numerous vehicles were parked around the edge of the compound, all of them having been armoured and customised to bear weapons. Motorbikes were also parked nearby, Red Fang members checking all of them. At the centre of the entire thing was the Dust Hauler, parked on the edge near the main avenue, it's back facing the wall.

Across from the huge tanker was a section of the wall that looked unfinished. The concrete was bare, their were no reinforcing armour panels and scaffolding reached up the side to the very top of the barrier. Warning cordons that normally would have been placed around the incomplete section had been picked up and thrown aside in a messy pile and other Red Fang seemed to be clearing away debris and other material at the base of the scaffolding.

'Oh gods,' Aurora gasped. 'I know what they're doing.'

'What?' Greta asked quickly. 'What're they doing?'

'They're going to blow a hole in the wall,' Aurora declared, her eyes wide in shock.

'What,' Greta snapped before remembering to keep her voice down.

'The public don't know but that's a section of the wall that a Goliath charged and almost broke through three months ago,' Aurora explained, panic in her voice. 'It was almost complete but the Grimm set my father's work back by weeks and he had to replace most of the internal supports. He was furious when it happened. I didn't think he would still have so much work left on it to do. If they get a Dust-hauler that big up to the base of the wall without it's facing stone or armour plating then it could bring that whole section down.'

'Letting the Grimm in,' Rapture finished, looking terrified. 'Oh gods.'

'Well we have to stop them,' Peter urged.

'Yeah,' Greta agreed. She then turned to try to find the foreman's office. It only a few seconds before she spotted a large portable structure surrounded by the Red Fang's trucks and several dozen members. 'Is that the office?' she asked Aurora, pointing it out to her.

'Yes,' Aurora answered, her face then fell. 'But we'll never be able to get in.'

'Yeah,' Greta agreed, sighing in disappointment and despair as the fact she had been trying to avoid sank in. 'Shit.'

'So what do we do now?' Rapture said, slumping down slightly. 'You think it's worth making a call on our scrolls?'

'Not if we don't want to be expelled,' Peter replied bitterly, sighing in resignation. 'There's a possibility they could clear out from that office but I wouldn't really count on it.'

Greta groaned and rubbed her face in frustration. She was trying to think of a solution that didn't involve getting kicked out of Beacon but nothing was coming. She looked from the office, to the wall and then around the compound, trying to roughly count the Red Fang and see how many they would have to fight if something happened. It was then that she noticed something.

There were dozens of Red Fang around the office, at the base of the wall and around the various crates they had offloaded from their own trucks but the Dust-hauler was virtually abandoned. For a moment a single faunus went over to check something in the cabin but was then called off to help with another task. What's more, the cabin was parked very close to the construction material stacks.

'Guys,' Greta said, trying not to groan as she did so, 'I've got an idea.'

'What is it,' Peter asked, the others looking expectant as they turned to their leader.

Greta rubbed her face one more time as she tried to think over the split-second plan she had just made and then looked at her team with as much confident intensity as she could. 'That Dust-hauler has been left alone and it's very close. We're gonna have to steal it.'

'What,' everyone hissed simultaneously.

'Look,' Greta said. 'We can't call the police from here, we can't go and try to find another public phone and we definitely can't fight them off here so the only thing we can do is get that Dust-hauler away from the wall.'

Greta looked expectantly at her team, though she wasn't sure what she was looking for. Part of her wanted them to agree with her and back her up but another hoped that they had some other plan, something else that would be much safer and easier. For a moment it looked like the others were trying to come up with a plan when they all stopped and looked at her with hopeful gazes. They believed her and were waiting for some kind of order.

'Alright,' Greta said with a sigh. 'Let's do this.'

* * *

The Dust-hauler was massive now that they were getting close to it. Larger than the, admittedly expansive dorm room they lived in, the cabin alone, separate from its chassis and the two metre tall wheels that carried it, was dauntingly large. The tanker it was attached to was even bigger, stretching nearly ten metres in length and seeming to appear even larger with the security frame attached to it. For a moment Greta wondered how something so big could even move before shaking the unnecessary and distracting thought away.

Team GRAP were on the edge of the container wall, ready to make a dash for the vehicle. Peter was sensing out the surrounding area and Rapture had volunteered her superior sense of smell, acknowledging that it would be unlikely to actually help but worth including nonetheless. They all waited, tense and ready to pounce at the right opportunity.

'So does anyone actually know how to drive?' Aurora suddenly asked. Greta froze as the words registered. She hadn't actually considered that part of the plan.

'I can,' Peter answered, his eyes still shut.

'You can?' Greta whispered, surprised at the news.

'My uncle taught me,' Peter replied in a matter of fact tone. He then raise a hand to silence everyone. 'Alright,' he then said, 'they've all moved on. We're clear to move now.'

'Right,' Greta said, raising Firebrand in it's club form in readiness. 'Everyone… go, now.'

She dashed out from behind the container and sprinted over to the cabin of the Dust-hauler. He slowed just enough to avoid colliding painfully with the side of the vehicle and then reached up to grab at the door. She pulled the handle bt the door remained shut.

'It's locked,' she said forlornly, turning to look at her teammates who had joined her and were trying to avoid being spotted.

'Hang on,' Peter said. He then immediately flashed away. The familiar sound of him re-materialising came from within the cabin and a second later the sound of the internal lock opening followed. The door then swung open and peter looked out, beckoning them all to come in.

Greta scrambled up through the door and into the cabin, Peter shuffling back to make room for her. Aurora and Rapture piled in behind her and then shut and locked the door again. Now that they were inside they calmed down a little, Greta looking around the compartment they were now inside.

For such a large vehicle the driver's cabin was remarkably bear. They were sat on an interconnected seat that looked more like a cushioned bench with several seatbelts inserted into it. There was a dashboard but it had a single wheel, rather generic pedals at the foot of the seat, a rather simple gearbox and several dials and switches she didn't recognise. Though she didn't know how to actually use the equipment in front of her she knew one simple fact about them.

'It's a universal drive system,' she said, identifying the standardised system of control that most Valesian and Atlesian model vehicles now operated with, allowing for easy use of vehicular transportation.

'That makes things easier,' Peter said as he leaned over the dashboard. 'The hard part is getting it running. Do you see the keys? They might have left them here.'

'Doesn't look like it,' Rapture said nervously as she and the others looked around the cabin. 'Damn it.'

'Okay, okay,' Greta said, trying to calm herself and the others down. Her heart was hammering in her chest as she realised this impromptu plan was falling apart. 'There's got to be something. Maybe we can… um, uh, open up the ignition cap like we saw Elena do?'

'It's worth a shot,' Peter said in acceptance. He drew out one of his Allegros and was about to reach down to the drive-shaft when they heard the lock on the door click.

Everyone froze as the door opened and a hand reached in, grasping the side of the open doorway before freezing. A faunus, wearing the Red Fang uniform and with a snarling Beowolf mask on his face was standing in the frame of the door like a deer caught in headlights. A pair of long rabbit ears sprouting from the top of his head twitched a little as his mouth twisted in both confusion and shock. Greta noticed that a pair of keys were in the very hand that was gripping the doorway.

For a moment everything was quiet as the Red Fang member and Team GRAP stared at one another and then the faunus regained his bearings. 'Wha...' he said for a second as his brain processed the sight in front of him and then reared back and opened his mouth to shout. 'INTRUDERS!'


	17. Chapter Seventeen: Battle On The Road

**Chapter** **S** **even** **teen** **:** **Battle On The Road** **:**

 **November** **1** **5** **th** **1** **462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

Greta gaped as the word echoed around them and out into the compound. There was a stunned silence as Team GRAP and the faunus waited for a reaction and then a similar shout was taken up by others outside the cabin. Greta swore she could hear people dropping whatever they were carrying and running towards them.

'Grab the keys!' Greta shouted.

Before the faunus could do anything Rapture had shot forward. Her left hand enclosed painfully around the faunus' own and practically crushed his fingers in a vice like grip before pulling back, tearing the keys from his fingers. Still keeping a hold of the man, Rapture's right fist swung, the bracelet around it's wrist rapidly folding out into Long Claw and smashing into the middle of the faunus' face in a vicious right hook. The faunus shouted in pain as his mask cracked and caved in a little and he was sent sprawling, the keys falling from his grip but remaining in Rapture's hand.

'Got 'em' Rapture announced.

'Great,' Peter said as Rapture threw him the keys and he thrust them into the ignition. Twisting his hand, the engine began to gun and then roar into life.

'Go! Go! Go!' Greta shouted to her partner and was rewarded with him worriedly shifting gears and then pressing his feet down on what she assumed was the accelerator. The Dust-hauler lurched forward and quickly built up speed until it was rapidly rolling down the main avenue.

Row after row of construction materials sped past them as they built up speed. Greta, still panicking, tried to reach over Aurora and Rapture to look out of the window, ignoring their complaints as she clambered over them all. Leaning her head out of the window, Greta looked back at the wall and blanched as she saw what was coming up behind them.

The Red Fang were pursuing them, she had expected that, but what terrified her was the fact that they had already gotten vehicles moving. Several motorbikes were already on the move and accelerating towards the Dust-hauler.

'They're chasing us,' Greta shouted to Peter, sounding nervous despite herself as she pulled her head back in.

'Right,' Peter said, not looking at her as he seemed to intensely concentrate on the Dust-hauler's controls. For a second, he shifted gears again and accelerated the vehicle.

'Peter,' Aurora said, glancing back between him, the windscreen and the window Greta had just leaned out of. 'The gate.'

Greta looked forward and saw the gateway they had passed through only a few minutes ago was coming up with alarming speed. The cordons were still in place and the security lights remained shut down even as they raced towards it. Peter didn't say anything, just gripping the wheel and tensing. Realising what her partner was doing, Greta braced herself just as the Dust-hauler hit the cordons, smashing through them. Portions of the thin barrier flew at the windscreen, bouncing of the glass and then disappearing behind them as they shit past the gate and out into the main road.

'Wait, wait,' Greta shouted as she saw Peter drive past the crossroad, taking a northward facing road, leading towards the main highway. 'We need to meet up with the others.'

'Do you really think I can turn this monstrosity at this speed?' Peter snapped back. His eyes were darting around the roadway but he seemed to be calming down a little. He then looked in one of the side-view mirrors and grimaced. 'They're still after us.'

Greta risked a look in her own side-view mirror and saw the motorbikes had been joined by a couple of the trucks. Biting her lip, she tried to think of something to do. "I need backup," she thought, pulling her scroll out of her pocket and looking at it. Making a call on it could incriminate them but if she didn't then they were all alone. Sighing, Greta opened her scroll and brought up her contact list.

* * *

'Get the Dust back!' Aanjay Laal screamed, her blood boiling as she watched her followers scramble about around her.

She had been inspecting the foot of the wall as her forces cleared away the construction material to make room for the Dust-hauler when the cry of "intruders" came out. She had whipped her head around just in time to hear the engines of the massive tanker gun and then see it slowly roll forward and away from them. Several of her men did have enough initiative to run after and then, when that didn't work, grab whatever light vehicles were closest and race off in pursuit.

'I want everyone after that tanker!' she shouted again, grabbing whoever was closest and shoving them in the direction of the parked convoy.

'But,' a timid voice called out. Aaanjay turned around to see a faunus man with ibex horns protruding from the crown of his head standing behind her. He shrank a little as Aanjay glared at him but still opened his mouth to speak. 'What if the police show up? We can't just send everyone.'

Aanjay snarled and grabbed the man by his collar, yanking forward until he was face to face with her and then dragging him along as she approached the fleet of trucks. 'This is all fucking pointless without the Dust,' she hissed. 'Get it back or I use you as a battering ram instead.'

Throwing the faunus away and at one of the trucks she opened the door to another as one truck after another roared into life and drove out of the compound. Climbing in, she turned to a cat faunus woman who was sitting in the driving seat. The woman seemed to freeze the moment Aanjay directed her glare at her until Aanjay opened her mouth.

'Drive,' Aanjay growled, the cat-woman starting the engine, pressing on the accelerator and speeding after the rest of the convoy as the last of them rapidly drove away from the wall and out into the district. As her own truck built up speed she adjusted her plasma-gauntlets, Tukada and Katanna and scowled.

"It doesn't matter who's taken the Dust," Aanjay Laal thought as she stared down the road ahead of her, a feral grin forming on her face, "I will be getting blood for this."

* * *

Tom was looking out over the endless, empty fields of the Agricultural District, waiting for any news from Greta. They had spent a few minutes of their watch in the car but Tom, already feeling tense and having been cooped up inside of one vehicle or another for several hours, had decided to wait outside.

Despite himself he was worried. The entire plan had separated them, sending his friends into a location he couldn't actually see, that none of them really knew their way around, that could be infested with the most dangerous terrorists in all of Vale. Now he stood idly on the side of the road, several metres away from the car and the others, his scroll in his hand as he waited for something, any word, from Greta.

The others were all in the car though they had opened the doors. Lach was sitting on the roof, his legs dangling over the edge as he lay back and stared up at the sky. Edmund was right next to him but he was sitting cross-legged, his eyes shut and his arms by his side. Tom had never actually seen anyone meditate and actually witnessing it was, if he was being honest, rather underwhelming, especially compared to his sister. He had last seen the other Skye twin sitting in the front with her headphones on, the devices barely suppressing the ambient noise of the music she was playing at what was obviously an outrageously loud volume.

Elizabeth and Adelheid had both remained inside the car as well, both of them reading on their scrolls. Elizabeth had been surprisingly passive and calm since they had gotten off of the train. Tom had actually been a little worried about his partner's change. She was prone to sudden, unpredictable changes in mood but they were usually the same emotional shifts, often towards agitation or some other expression of energy. He had never really seen her so pensive and still.

Sighing, Tom was about to go back to the car and sit down when his scroll began to ring. Pulling it out, he opened it up and read the caller ID, it was Greta's.

Tom immediately accepted the call and put the scroll to his ear. 'Greta?' he said, concern in his voice.

'Tom,' he heard Greta gasp on the other side of the call. 'There's no time. We're being chased by the Red Fang and you need to get over here.'

'What?' Tom gasped, his brain rushing to process what he had just been told. 'But… wha… where are you?'

'On a Dust-hauler heading… um, north, yeah, north,' Greta replied, sounding distracted and desperate. 'You've got to catch up with us, now!'

'Wha… how,' Tom stuttered for a second before a thought came to him. 'Right,' he said to Greta. 'We'll be there… um, as soon as we can. Keep your scroll on though, I'll be following the GPS.'

'Right,' Greta said. 'Thanks.'

Instantly she ended the call. Tom stood there for a moment, stunned by what little he had just heard. Apparently something had happened and now Greta was in trouble, what kind, he didn't really know. All he knew was that the Red Fang were after Greta and she was on a Dust-hauler, probably the very kind she had mentioned the other day. Shaking his head, Tom immediately opened up the options menu on his scroll, found his contacts list and activated Greta's GPS signal for her scroll.

The moment the icon came on, he saw it was slowly moving up the symbol designating a road to the immediate north of the construction site Team GRAP had been going towards. Clenching his free hand into a fist, Tom ran over to the car, waving at the others for their attention.

'Guys, guys,' he shouted as he came up to the car. 'Greta's called. We've got to go, now.'

'What?' Lach asked somewhat dumbly as he began to register what Tom had told him. He blinked but then immediately sprang into action once recognition took place. 'Guys, we gotta move.'

Edmund's eyes shot open as he leapt off of the roof. Adelheid and Elizabeth had poked their heads out of the windows of the car as they looked at Tom with expectant looks on their faces and Elena had pulled her headphones out of her ears. Tom didn't say anything more until he had reached the car and jumped in through the door, Lach following after him.

'They're going north,' Tom said, not slowing as everyone's eyes widened either in shock or confusion. 'They're on a Dust-hauler and the Red Fang are after them.' He held up his scroll, the flashing symbol of Greta's scroll visible to everyone. 'I've got their GPS here but we have to find them now.'

'Right,' Edmund said as his sister jammed her spear blade into the ignition system again and activated the engine. 'Give me your scroll.'

Tom handed his scroll over when Edmund reached out his hand. The Skye boy took the device and plugged it into a port on the dashboard. A holographic projector folded out and lit up a space between the two front seats. The image that had been on Tom's screen immediately sparing up.

'Right,' Elena said as she gazed at the glowing map and the blinking symbol of Greta's scroll. 'We've heading north. Floor it!'

Edmund pressed down on the accelerator, shifted gears and swung the car around in a tight arc and then raced down the road. Tom felt like he was being pressed back into his seat as the car picked up speed and, in what felt like a matter of seconds, was rounding a corner onto a northward facing road.

'Um, Adelheid,' Tom said as everyone tensely watched the landscape rush by. 'Do you think you could go on the roof and keep, um, watch for us?'

'What?' Adelheid snapped, aghast, several other also exclaiming the same thing.

'Uh, I just thought that you would be able to stay up there and give Greta backup when we catch up with her,' Tom explained, mustering as much confidence as he could. 'I'm sure one of your glyphs could keep you on.'

Adelheid gave an uncomfortable expression as she looked at the window and seemed to be gauging the speed they were already going. After a second she sighed and then hardened her face. 'Does this thing have a sunroof?'

'On it,' Elena said, flipping a switch on the dashboard. A portion of the ceiling folded up and then retracted, revealing a sizeable opening in the roof.

Adelheid frowned as she pulled herself up through the sunroof and planted her feet on either side of the opening, one arm holding onto the car whilst the other kept her clothes in place. A second later there was a silver flash as she lit up a glyph that adhered her to the roof of the car. Elena then flicked another switch and the sunroof retracted, hiding Adelheid from sight, though the glowing edges of the glyph could still be seen out of the windows.

Tom sighed as he pulled out Lumen. There wasn't much he could do in the car right now but the moment they got to Greta he would do everything in his and his team's power to help her. He just hoped that they would make it in time. A full Dust-hauler was a dangerous thing to be on. For the first time in what felt like ages, he reached into his shirt and pulled out the chain with his uncle's ring attached and began rubbing it, begging the gods for luck. He felt like they would sorely need it.

* * *

Jedd Nechten could feel something was off. It was a gift of his that he had picked up in his later years attending Beacon Academy. He wasn't proud of the circumstances he was sure led to acquiring it but it had helped keep him and – after arriving at Beacon, his team – out trouble. He could never describe what the odd sensation he felt really was, something more than a gut feeling but less clear than Aura based detection techniques. All he really knew about it was that it happened, it usually worked and, more importantly, that everything felt off to him at this particular moment.

Sighing, he pulled out his scroll and stared at it for a few seconds. He knew it hadn't been that long since they had split from the group but he had expected to hear something from Team GRAP. The lack of communication was leaving him restless.

'You get that feeling again?' Egeria asked. Jedd looked up to see his partner lounging on the back of the truck, her back rested up against one of the bikes.

'Yeah,' Jedd said in response. 'I...'

He was about to explain when his scroll suddenly began to ring. Quickly pulling the device out, he opened it up and saw Peter's ID flash on the screen. Jedd accepted the call and put his scroll to his ear, expectant and worried as his gut feeling became stronger and more unsettled.

'Yeah,' Jedd said as he accepted the call, his voice grave and concerned. 'What is it?'

'We're being chased by the Red Fang,' Peter blurted out quickly over the scroll. Jedd was almost taken aback as Peter's rapidly spoken words registered.

'What?' Jedd managed to get out in time.

'There's no time to explain,' Peter continued. 'We're in a Dust-hauler heading north to the highway and we need backup, now.' He paused for just a second, the line going silent before returning. 'We need you to follow the GPS on my scroll. Get over here, now.'

'We'll be there,' Jedd promised, nodding in resolution and then shutting his scroll and bringing up the GPS tracking function and finding Peter's device.

'So what's the news?' Tobias asked expectantly as Jedd turned to them, his eyes still on his scroll.

'Apparently GRAP's got on a Dust-hauler and is going north to the main highway with the Red Fang on their tail,' Jedd replied, looks of surprise registering on his team's face. 'We need to catch up with as quickly as possible.'

'I'll get the bikes then,' Tabha offered. Jedd watched his bulky teammate pull his featureless, white mask down over his face. A second later he was unclasping the restraints on the motorbikes.

'Good,' Jedd said, satisfied with his teams' intuitions. 'Toby I want you and Egeria on the bikes. Tabha,' he turned back to his giant colleague who was hefting the bikes up by hand and lifting them off of the truck with barely a grunt of exertion, 'you're in the back with me. If we get a good shot I want you to give them all a look at Humungous.'

Tabha looked up at Jedd and for a moment, Jedd was sure he could see a smile through the mask's smooth alloy. 'It would be a pleasure,' Tabha said with an obvious relish in his tone.

'I'd say it'd be best if we go off-road,' Egeria added as she went over and vaulted onto one of the bikes, gunning the engine and indicating at the empty fields with her head.

'Works for me,' Tobias agreed as he got on his own machine.

Without another word, Jedd got into his truck and turned the ignition. As his engine roared into life, he imagined it was alive, the truck shuddering. He looked out over the field immediately to his right and planned the best way to get through it. The ground was wet but not to muddy and his tyres were better suited for off-road terrain than an actual highway. They might be slowed down but Jedd knew, as well as his team did, that it would be quicker to just cut through the fields than try to take the roads and Team GRAP's lives could depend on how timely they were.

'Alright,' Jedd shouted, his mask letting his already loud voice carry over the engines. 'We're on. Let's go hunting.'

The moment he said that, Egeria and Tobias whooped and sped forward, their bikes jumping the short barrier cordoning off the fields from the roadside and landed in the dirt, kicking up clouds of dirt and debris. Jedd, meanwhile, moved along the road. As it was, his truck couldn't get over the barrier but he knew where a section of the roadside rose up and left a slight elevation next to the fencing. Finding the somewhat steep hump in the roadside, Jedd accelerated and drove over it, lifting into the air and leaping over the barrier. An instant later he impacted on the ground, his truck's suspension squealing in protest as he pressed down on the accelerator.

There was a slight pause as his tyres tried to grip into the soft earth but a second later he too was racing after his teammates. His blood pumping, Jedd let himself grin behind his mask. Despite himself, these were the moments he and everyone in Team JETT lived for, no matter the consequences. Even though he was about to take on terrorists, even though his friends were in danger and even though he and his team could get arrested, he had a feeling that today was going to be a very lovely day.

* * *

The traffic on the access road to the highway was, thankfully, non-existent and mile after mile of roadway was completely empty. Though she had spared the fact some thought, Greta didn't really appreciate the good luck she and her team were having in that regard. She, instead, kept, looking in the side-view mirror of the Dust-hauler as more and more vehicles, every one of them packed with masked faunus baying for blood, appeared behind their massive, lumbering tanker.

Close to a dozen bikers were leading the way, several trucks filled with armed faunus following right behind them. Though she could barely see them, Greta knew that even more Red Fang were coming up from behind as well.

'So,' Peter gasped as he frantically looked back and forth between the wheel, dashboard and road in front of him, 'what exactly are we doing with this?'

'We, um, uh,' Greta stuttered as she tried to come up with a plan. 'We… take this to somewhere further in the district and dump it. Then we call the police whilst the Red Fang try to get it back.'

'What?' everyone in the team shouted as they turned to stare incredulously at her.

'That's the plan?' Aurora almost screeched.

'Have you got anything better?' Greta shouted back.

No-one was able to answer her, Aurora simply putting her heads in her hands and groaning in frustration. Peter focused on his driving, gripping the wheel tighter as he seemed to be trying to formulate some kind of alternative. It was then that Greta saw him glance in his own side-view mirror and blanch.

'One of the bikers is trying to grab the frame,' he said in alarm.

Greta clambered over Aurora and Rapture, eliciting complaints from them as they all tried to get a look through the mirror. The moment she took a look Greta saw a Red Fang biker had caught up with the back of the tanker, was reaching his arm out and was trying to grasp onto one of the bars. He was standing up in his seat, crouching as if he was about to jump.

'Oh gods,' Greta muttered.

'There's more of them coming up,' Peter added.

Greta grimaced as more figures appeared in the mirror's image. It was obvious what the Red Fang were trying to do now and more and more of them were getting closer. Greta ran through her options, few as they were, in her head and came to a gut-wrenching conclusion.

'Peter,' Greta said, putting on as confident a front as she could, 'keep on the wheel, get us as far as you can for as long as you can.' Peter nodded to her and turned back to the road, looking bizarrely more comfortable after hearing her orders. 'Girls,' Greta then continued, turning to Aurora and Rapture, 'we're going up on top. We'll keep the Red Fang off of the tanker.'

Despite a few moments of hesitation, Aurora and Rapture both nodded in agreement as well. Steadying her breathing, Greta signalled to Rapture, who was nearest the other door, to open it. Rapture pushed the cabin door open and levered herself out, grabbing onto the back of the cabin and lifted herself off to the back and close to the tanker's security frame. Aurora followed after her, doing the same, and then Greta made her move as well. For a moment she looked back at Peter to see he had one of his Allegros out and was changing the magazine.

'Don't stop,' Greta said. 'No matter what happens.'

Peter gave her a quizzical look for a second but then nodded and pressed down on the accelerator. Feeling the wind pressing against her increase, Greta shut the door and clambered off of the cabin, onto the security frame and then the tanker's body. Rapture and Aurora were already there, trying to keep themselves steady and, on the road around them, were the Red Fang.

One of the bikers, the first to catch up with them, leapt off of his bike onto the frame, his vehicle toppling over and crashing behind him. He clung onto the bars, trying to reach for another whilst other faunus tried to do the same whilst two of the trucks got closer to the tanker's rear.

Before she could say anything to her teammates, a Red Fang biker sped ahead of the others, leapt off of his bike and grabbed onto the bars of the frame. As he tried to get another handhold, the Red Fang fighter also pulled a large cleaver-shaped blade off of a harness on his back. Reflexively, Greta pulled Firebrand off of her back, pointed the muzzle at the faunus and fired. A blast of Fire-dust powered shrapnel hit the faunus in his side, sending him flying off of the frame and down onto the road below. Grimacing, Greta clipped Firebrand back onto her back and climbed onto the top of the tanker.

The sudden sound of smashing glass caused Greta to turn back to the cabin where she just managed to catch the sight of Peter breaking the window on his side and pointing his handgun out. Several other bikers were moving along the side of the Dust-hauler, like wolves circling prey to hem them in. Peter fired off several shots, the Dust-hauler wobbling in place a little as Peter focused on taking down the Reds Fang closest to him. Two bikers fell from their vehicles as the Allegro's rounds hit them in the chest, neck or head and Greta swore she saw blood fly from one of the faunus as he fell to the ground. The bikers moved away from the cabin, surrounding the tanker but remaining out of Peter's view.

One of the trucks caught up just enough to allow several more faunus to jump onto the frame, one of them missing and falling down onto the road. Greta watched as the one unfortunate faunus rolled back under the truck he had leapt from and was crushed.

'Aurora,' Greta barked, pointing at the truck and the faunus who were jumping onto the frame.

'Right,' Aurora replied, needing no other orders. She pulled out Dark Majesty in its sniper-rifle form and loaded it with a clip from her ammunition bag, inserting the bulky clip and then pulling the slider back in a swift, practised motion. Greta got a quick flash of the label on the clip and saw that her teammate was loading her weapon with high-power ordinance.

Aurora aimed at the truck and fired without a moment's hesitation. The shot blasted through the windshield and hit the driver between the eyes. The faunus' mask saved his life but the force of the impact rendered the driver unconscious as his head and neck flew back and hit the headrest of his seat hard. After a second's delay, the truck swerved out of control, veering to the left, knocking several faunus who had been about to leap off of it onto the road and colliding with another truck that had been right behind it. Both vehicles flipped over, sending the faunus they had been carrying flying forward.

Greta watched as dozens of faunus crashed down onto the road, several of them rolling but most of them collapsing, limbs and heads sticking in unnatural, broken angles. Whatever vehicles were behind them swerved out of the way of the collision, many running over the Red Fang who were on the road as they did so.

Bikers once again began to swarm around the back of the Dust-hauler again, several of them pulling weapons off of their backs. Aurora, noticing this, once again aimed her sniper-rifle at them firing and hitting one of the bikers in the chest. The faunus' Aura saved him but the impact knocked him off of his bike and down onto the road. Aiming at another, Aurora shot another biker from his vehicle, then another and another, calmly locking onto her targets and firing with a cold detachment.

One biker sped up, getting Aurora's attention. Greta watched her teammate line up another shot with the same speed, ease and detachment and fire, only for the faunus to raise his arm and deploy a series of interlocked mecha-shift panels that folded out to form a shield. Aurora's shot hit it and rebounded off harmlessly. Aurora frowned but shifted Dark Majesty down by barely an inch and fired again, hitting the wheel of his bike instead. The high-power Dust round shot straight through the tyre and rim of the wheel, breaking it apart and sending the front of the bike down and flipping the vehicle over. The Red Fang biker was sent flying with it, crashing into the ground and then being crushed by the remains of his bike a second later.

The remaining bikers fell back, rallying together behind the Dust-hauler, just in front of another truck that was speeding ahead of the rest of the Red Fang convoy. Aurora, meanwhile, released the empty clip from Dark Majesty and narrowed her eyes at the remaining faunus as she reached down to her ammunition bag to reload.

It was then that Peter blew the Dust-hauler's horn. Greta turned in the direction of the cabin and saw what Peter was trying to signal. The road was widening onto a turn-off and they were about to reach a highway; a very busy highway, and at high speed.

'Hold on,' Greta shouted, her voice barely carrying over the wind and the noise of the traffic as Peter made a hard left turn onto the highway.

The Dust-hauler lurched as it swung to the left, the massive vehicle turning far too quickly for its size. Greta grabbed onto the security frame and braced herself as she felt her body get dragged along by the massive tanker. The wind pulling at her body, hair and dress as it tried to pry her off of the metal bars. An ungodly, metallic screech sounded as the cabin finished turning and tried to accelerate again, dragging the tanker which had yet to finish it's own arc. For an instant the tanker tipped on its wheels and Greta almost felt her stomach clench and she swore she could hear the several tonnes of processed Dust shift in the reinforced fuel tank underneath her. Rapture was doing the same, grimacing as she clung to the bars but Aurora, who had been on top of the tanker, was struggling to hold onto the bars around her, her weapon and her ammunition bag at the same time.

The tanker slammed back down onto the road and the entire Dust-hauler groaned as it sped up once again, the Red Fang making the turn much more quickly and easily. Greta continued to cling, trying to press her body onto the tanker's metal exterior in an attempt to stick herself to the vehicle as she was jolted around. The Red Fang were pressing around them again but now there was a new problem; the highway traffic.

Peter sounded the horn again as smaller cars screeched to a halt or hurriedly tried to swerve around the immense Dust-hauler that had moved onto the road. A Red Fang biker went flying into the air as a speeding car that had made a hard turn to avoid the tanker crashed into him. Greta turned around to see another car, a large family carrier, go off the road under a short burst of gunfire from one of the faunus on a Red Fang truck. More gunfire quickly cleared much of the approaching traffic out of the way as the Red Fang carved a path for themselves on the highway. The Dust-hauler, meanwhile, swung to the left to try to avoid a large cluster of cars that was heading towards them.

'My bag,' Greta then heard Aurora shout. Turning she saw what looked like Aurora's ammunition bag sliding along and then off the surface of the tanker, Aurora desperately lunging to grab it whilst keeping a grip on the frame.

Greta reached out immediately, grimacing as she watched the bag slide in her direction and then away. Throwing her right arm out, she grabbed the bag's strap, a desperate grin on her face as she grasped it tightly. At the same time, her grip on the security frame slipped and she fell forward with a shocked squawk.

'Greta!' Rapture shouted as Greta fell forward, arms desperately trying to grab the frame. Her fingers slid along the metal of one bar for a second but failed to grab it. The Dust-hauler swerved at the same time, swinging about and throwing Greta off balance even further as she toppled, slamming her head into one of the bars. Despite her Aura, the impact jarred Greta, stunning her for a moment as she slid forward and down to the road.

Rapture leapt for Greta grabbing her by the ankle with her left hand whilst gripping the security frame with her right. Greta jolted as her teammate hauled her up a bit. Her momentum stopped, Greta swung forward in place, towards one of the Dust-hauler's wheels. Her eyes widened as her slightly addled mind finally registered what was happened to her and she winced as her face came close to the rapidly spinning tyres.

Rapture heaved back as she saw what was happening pulling Greta away from the wheel. Realising what was happening. Greta finally got a hold of one of the security frame's bars and brought herself to a halt. Breathing heavily and shaking her head to clear it, Greta looked at her hand to see she still had Aurora's ammunition bag in her grip. Smiling in relief, she lifted it up to show it to her team.

'Give me the bag,' Aurora ordered, panic in her voice.

Rapture hoisted Greta up a little higher, letting her grab onto the frame again and lever herself into a more secure position. Greta, still recovering from the blow to her head and her near collision with the tyre, scrambled a little to get back on top of the tanker, Aurora's bad still in her hand. At the same time, the Red Fang caught up once again, a truck approaching the rear of the tanker.

Greta flung the bag forward as she finally made it to the top of the tanker, her fingers trying to grab the frame's bars even as she reached out to give Aurora her ammunition. Aurora ran to take the bag from Greta, grabbing her arm and pulling her up before pulling the bag away.

Meanwhile, several Red Fang leapt from the truck. 'Aurora,' Greta shouted as she tried to bring Firebrand off of her back again.

'I've not reloaded yet,' Aurora snapped back as she fit a clip into Dark Majesty and reached to pull the slider back.

Another biker sped forward, a semi-automatic in his right hand. Greta noticed just in time for the faunus to fire off a short burst. Greta ducked down and heard Aurora shriek as the biker aimed towards her, forcing her to duck down; she still hadn't reloaded.

More faunus made the leap onto the tanker as the biker continued to let off short bursts. Greta continued to duck down whilst Aurora attempted to line up a shot. Every time Aurora made to fire at him he would aim at her again but would also redirect his fire at Greta and Rapture whenever Aurora ducked down. Seeing the other faunus approaching, Rapture growled, raised her fists and let her gauntlets deflect the bullets. With a roaring cry and keeping her arms guarded, Rapture charged at the Red Fang on the tanker.

The nearest Red Fang fighter climbed on top of the tanker and saw Rapture coming. He immediately pulled out a machine-gun he had strapped to his back and fired at Rapture, panic and anger evident on what little of his face wasn't hidden by the mask.

Rapture kept her arms up and moved them as she approached, her gauntlets taking the bullets that flew at her face and chest, her Aura handling the rest as she barrelled over the top of the tanker and swung her right fist. It connected with the other faunus and sent the man flying back. He span out of control, slipping off of the tanker, colliding with the security frame's bars and down onto the road. Not wasting any momentum, Rapture continued on, bringing her left fist up in a vicious uppercut that struck another Red Fang fighter who had been getting their own gun out. Her fist caught his weapon and sent it up into his face. Though his mask took the blow, the Red Fang member was stunned by the impact and sent flying off of the Dust-hauler by Rapture tackling him.

As the second Red Fang member fell off of the Dust-hauler, Rapture continued on, seeing another masked faunus further down the tanker, charge towards her with a machete. Rapture brought her left arm up into guard and grabbed the blade, her gauntlets catching it and locking the machete in place. A right hook, knocked the Red Fang member back into another one that had been moving forward to back the first fighter up and sending them both sprawling. Barely wasting a second, Rapture leapt forward and kicked the two faunus who were struggling to get back to their feet. Both Red Fang members fell off of the tanker, hitting the bars of the security frame as they fell down to the road.

Rapture continued on, swinging her right fist into the face of another faunus, immediately following up with her left, knocking the Red Fang member off balance and off of the Dust-hauler. As she waited to regain her balance, Rapture was charged by another faunus. Spotting the approaching Red Fang member, Rapture brought her arms up to guard, blocking the attack. Pulling her arms back, Rapture put some distance between herself and the attacker and then lashed out with her left arm, grabbing the Red Fang member's right arm and held him in place as she repeatedly beat him with her right hand. As she was about to throw him aside she saw a faunus at the end of the tanker raise a semi-automatic at her.

Rapture's eyes widened as the faunus fired at her and she ducked behind the Red Fang member she had been beating. Dust rounds thudded into the other Red Fang member and his body jerked in front of Rapture as they tore through his Aura and into his flesh. Panicking, Rapture continued to shield herself behind the dying faunus and then ran forward, keeping the body in front of her until she was right in front of the gunman. Screaming in anger, fear and confusion at what happening to her, Rapture threw the body at the gunman, knocking him off of balance and then punched him off of the Dust-hauler. The Red Fang gunman and the body of his comrade both went flying, the gunman landing on the road and getting run over by one of the approaching trucks whilst the body landed on a biker, knocking him over.

Greta saw Rapture pause as she stood on the end of the tanker, a disturbed expression on her face as the adrenaline rush ended. A second later another Red Fang fighter leapt from a bike and began to clamber up the security frame only for Rapture to snap forward and hammer her right fist onto the top of his head and send him off of the Dust-hauler.

'Rapture!' Aurora then shouted. Greta turned to see her teammate was aiming her sniper-rifle in the same direction as the faunus girl. 'Get down!'

Rapture threw herself onto her front, grabbing onto the tanker as Aurora fired. A burning incendiary Dust round shot over and past Rapture and hit a Red Fang member standing atop a truck loaded with crates of Dust. The Red Fang member had been holding another gun and aiming it at Rapture and as he fell backwards, his weapon went off, the round hitting one of the crates and penetrating it. An instant later the crate exploded, the others joining it and engulfing the entire vehicle in a coruscating sphere of multi-coloured fire that let out smaller arcs of electricity and ice. Several surrounding vehicles swerved to avoid the volatile fireball as it blossomed and expanded but most of the remaining bikers were knocked over by the force of the explosion.

Greta winced from the glare of the explosion for a moment but as it faded her eyes widened as she saw what still lay behind them. The rest of the Red fang had caught up to them and, by the number of faunus laden trucks closing in the Dust-hauler, it looked like every last one of them had decided to chase after them.

One truck then broke through the rest of them, forcing the others to swerve aside as it weaved through the packed convoy. Greta's eyes widened as she saw the faunus that was standing on top of that, one hand gripping the top of the cabin and masked eyes glaring at the Dust-hauler; Aanjay Laal.

'Oh gods,' Greta whispered. Now that they had gotten the Dust-hauler away from the wall, Greta wasn't sure what they could do next. The Red Fang had caught up, Aanjay Laal was right on their tail and there was no sign of the police or anyone showing up, even after all the chaos they had brought onto a busy highway. As she felt the Red Fang leader bore into her very soul with her glare, Greta prayed for something, anything to show up to change their situation in some way.

* * *

'Yes,' Adelheid said into her scroll as she peered across one of the fields at the road distantly running next to their own. 'That's definitely got to be them.'

'Right,' the voice of Elena Skye said on the other end of the line. 'We'll have to find a turn-off.'

Adleheid looked back in the direction of the other road. There was no doubt that the highway section was where Team GRAP were. She could clearly see the massive silhouette of a heavy duty Dust-hauler vehicle and the large cluster of smaller vehicles behind it were not regular traffic. There was little oncoming traffic as well, meaning the police had either issued a warning or regular people had just caught news of the ongoing battle on the highway.

"Definitely them," Adelheid thought as she frowned. This would be the first time she went into actual combat against non-Grimm opponents. She had to be prepared.

'Got a turn-off,' Elena then said through the scroll. 'Hang on.'

Adelheid had just enough time to brace herself before the car took a sharp turn to the left. Though she had a glyph adhering her to the expansive roof of the car, Adelheid grabbed onto one of the bars attached to the car with her right hand as the vehicle swerved and almost threw her around. Panicking a little, her left hand, still clutching her scroll, went to her circlet which was threatening to slip off.

'Hey!' Adelheid shouted, more out of frustration then any chance of Elena hearing her.

'We're gonna still need to catch up with them when we get onto the highway,' Elena continued as Adelheid but her scroll back to her ear. 'See if you can get some shots in when we get close.'

Adelheid gave her confirmation and then switched off her scroll. As the car sped down the side road leading to the highway, she drew Schniedend and prepared herself. The distances between them and the highway were shortening faster and faster as the Skye's accelerated their vehicle faster and faster.

The next turn off came into view as the last of the Red Fang passed it. Once they got off the side road and onto the highway they would be behind the enemy convoy. The perfect place to make a strike; if they were lucky.

"Here we go," Adelheid thought as she prepared another glyph. She had finally gotten the hang of properly sustaining multiple glyphs for an extended period of time but she had yet to try it out whilst moving.

The car then shifted again as the Skyes made another hard turn, forcing Adelheid to grab at the bars again to keep herself steady. Once the car straightened out again she stood up, trusting her glyphs to keep her attached to the roof. The Red Fang were still too far ahead of them but now that she had her hands free she could also use Glatteis. Drawing the Dust-wand with her left hand, she summoned another glyph in front of her.

Standing straight, Adelheid span on her toes, her glyph keeping her steady as she built up momentum and, keeping her left arm held back, aimed for the nearest Red Fang truck. Her target found, she thrust Glatteis at the glyph and fired a bolt of ice-Dust. The glyph accelerated the thick shard of ice that she had fired and shot it at the rearmost wheel of the truck. Adelheid smirked as she saw the accelerated ice puncture the tyre and warp the wheel rim underneath.

The truck swerved off of course as the wheel broke further and then ran off of the road and came to a stop. The Red Fang who had been riding in it, took out firearms and shot at her but Adelheid ducked whilst Lach pointed his own weapon, currently in its handgun configuration and returned fire at them as they sped by and left those Red Fang behind.

Looking ahead again, Adelheid realised that the truck had been the rearmost straggler and that most of the enemy convoy was much further ahead and that, even going as fast as they were, it would still take time to catch up. It was then that Adelheid also saw several other vehicles heading for their road from the field on the other side.

Two bikes raced out of the field and onto the road with an almost practised grace and skill, taking positions just in front of Adelheid and the Skye's car. Though it took her a moment, Adelheid realised they were the members of Team JETT. The truck she had seen belong to Jedd Nechten arrived a little while afterwards. Ploughing through a wooden fence that had cordoned off the fields and coming up beside the car. Adelheid smirked again as she focused on the new arrivals. Their support had finally arrived as well and now they could take the fight to the Red Fang.


	18. Chapter Eighteen: Fighting The Fang

**Chapter** **Eigh** **teen** **:** **Fighting The Fang** **:**

 **November** **1** **5** **th** **1** **462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

Nox Skye glowered as he walked down the ramp of the Ausfuhrung. It hadn't taken him long to figure out that the tracker in his car had been removed, since, when they checked the signal, they had found it in the lake. His men had taken enough initiative to scan the lake to see if his children had simply crashed the car – not that they would have been stupid enough to do that. If they had really done that with one of his cars there would have been all kinds of hell to pay in return, no matter what.

'Sir,' a voice called out. Nox turned to see one of his guards, dressed in the civilian clothing all of his men had brought for their time off. The man was in a brown sports jacket, white shirt and dusty, brown trousers but still carried his reinforced machine-gun with him. 'We have the list of locations you requested.'

'Good,' Nox said as he walked past the man. 'Are the others prepared?'

'Yes, Patriarch,' the soldier answered as Nox looked at his other car. There were three other Guard Troopers, two men and a woman, all of whom were in their civilian clothing as well, weapons in hand. Nox had ordered them all to forgo their uniforms. No-one was currently operating in any official military capacity. As of now, they were all conventional Huntsmen, doing their rightful, apolitical duties.

'Patriarch,' the woman said in greeting, not saluting, as he had ordered; to keep their pretence intact. 'We have already registered a flight down to the East Vale airfield. They have agreed to accommodate your vehicle, sir.'

'Good,' Nox said, again. 'Take your seats. We will be leaving immediately.'

'Yes, Patriarch,' the group said in response, several bowing their heads but their hands all staying either at their sides or casually resting on their weapons. Nox raised his hand a little, the gesture almost unnoticeable and yet they recognised it as an order. Nodding in acknowledgement, the group turned to checking their personal supplies and then boarding the car.

Smiling a little, Nox ran his hand over the hilt of his weapon, not even looking down as he did so. His katana, Dark Father, felt like a part of himself after so many years of use. He didn't need to check his weapon to know that it was in perfect condition, he could simply feel it. He was ready to begin this mission.

"It's been a while since I went out like this," Nox thought with a small smile as he reached out for the door to the driver's seat.

'Nox,' Jaune Arc's voice called out to Nox as he was about to get in his car. Fixing passive expression onto his face and turned to see the Beacon headmaster walking towards him, a scroll in his hand and Professor Smith at his side.

'Professor Arc,' Nox greeted the other man, keeping his tone even. 'Here to see me off.'

'Mostly, yeah,' Jaune said in response, giving a small, tired smile. 'I've just finished off the day's paperwork so I thought I would take a walk and heard you were going out.'

'That's not going to be a problem is it?' Nox asked, now frowning. He currently had his anger in check but the day had been an especially difficult one and there was always a chance something could finally tip him over the edge. He was hoping he could chase up a lead before that happened.

'No, no,' Jaune replied, waving a dismissive hand. 'I was just curious.'

'In the interest of satisfying curiosity,' Professor Smith then said, stepping forward a little to be directly beside Jaune. 'Do you mind telling us what you're doing?'

'I don't see why we would have to if it's not impermissible,' Nox shot back.

'Humour me,' Professor Smith immediately replied, raising an eyebrow challengingly.

Nox smirked. 'I'm performing my own investigation as an independent Huntsman, as per my certification from Shade Academy,' he then said. 'These men are doing the same and volunteered to assist me.'

'Great,' Jaune said, Professor Smith nodding in agreement, a contented smile on his own face as he accepted the answer. 'We'd appreciate the help.'

Nox raised an eyebrow at Jaune's statement. "This is certainly different," he thought. Jaune seemed much more relaxed than he had when the two of them were in his office several hours ago. Nox felt increasingly suspicious as he peered at the two other men, trying to figure out what they were doing.

'So any idea where you'll be starting?' Jaune asked.

Nox remained silent and tried to school his expressions as he thought over his options. He had become too accustomed to letting his helmet hide his face and didn't want to give away what he was considering. He let one of his eyebrows rise a little sceptically but kept his face otherwise straight and impassive.

'The Southern Residential Districts,' he finally answered after several seconds. "Some honesty would be the better option."

'You're checking out gang territories?' Professor Smith asked.

'It seems the best place to start,' Nox stated in response. 'Criminals are normally the ones who best understand what goes on in society's underbelly.'

'Good idea,' Jaune said, smiling amiably before turning a little to look aside to Professor Smith. 'Southern Vale does have that reputation; doesn't it?' As he spoke he seemed to scratch at his right eyebrow, his expression changing very little as he did so.

Nox's expression didn't shift at all, instead he nodded at the statement. 'Well I'm afraid I can't stay. My colleagues and I have a lot of work to do.'

'Oh, yeah, right,' Jaune said with a falsely embarrassed smile, waving his right hand. 'Don't let us keep you. Good luck.'

'Thank you, Professor Arc,' Nox said, nodding his head for a moment before turning and climbing into his car. He shut the door and then waited for the two men to step away from the vehicle, Jaune giving another wave and what looked like an apologetic expression before he turned away.

'Scan any and every public news and information site for news regarding Southern Vale,' Nox ordered his men as he started the engine.

'Sir,' his troops replied obediently as they took out scrolls and opened interlink pages.

'Inform me of anything that looks relevant,' Nox added as he moved the car through the dock, people moving out of his way. He couldn't use any of his own ships without violating the terms the Valesian government had put on him now but the Beacon transport he had reserved for himself would serve almost as well.

He knew Jaune had been prompting him to look into that area. It was very obvious; but it also was clear that whatever he was doing was conflicting with his own government's order. Whatever was going on, it seemed Jaune had given him the go ahead and encouragement to interfere, not that he needed permission at this point.

Nox frowned as he drove onto another wing of the airdock and found a wide-bodied transport aircraft waiting at the end of the pier. That was the ship he had reserved and it was already prepared, another of his men standing by it in plain clothes and directing the aircraft's crew around as hey all waited for Nox to arrive.

Nox stopped the car on the edge of the transport's loading ramp as the Huntsman he had sent ahead walked up to his window. He lowered it and looked out at the other man as he stepped up beside the car. 'Have them take us to the South Residential District,' he ordered the man who saluted and then walked off. Satisfied, Nox then rolled his car onto the transport and waited for them to take off.

'Patriarch, sir,' one of his men then said from the seat behind him.

'Yes?' Nox asked, expecting something good.

'We have reports coming on from the southern border of Vale concerning a massive ongoing battle with the Red Fang and a Dust-hauler,' the man reported. 'There isn't much information yet but the news have already picked up social media reports from civilians in the area that the police weren't able to get a hold of yet.'

'That's our lead,' Nox said. He then lowered the window of his door and poked his head out. As soon as he did so the ramp to the aircraft closed and the vehicle shifted as it prepared to take off.

'Sir?' his agent who had been directing the aircraft's crew said as he walked up to Nox.

'Order the pilot to make for any civilian airfield close to the centre of Vale's southern border,' Nox commanded.

'Yes Patriarch, sir,' the man immediately replied. He then strode off to the cabin to inform the pilots of their new destination.

His orders given, Nox sat back and opened up his own scroll. He brought up various tabs, each of them searching for whatever he could find on this supposed battle. The first interlink pages showed him various images taken by civilian cameras that depicted a massive Dust-hauler with a security frame attached to the tanker. Though the image was shaky and he couldn't make out the details of the various figures who were fighting on top of the tanker, it was unmistakeably the same model as the one he had caught the Red Fang possessing in the Old Residential District.

'Laal,' Nox muttered to himself, his eyes narrowing. He knew that the Red Fang warlady had to be there. If that Dust-hauler and as many Red Fang as the reports claimed were really there, then Aanjay Laal had to be as well.

"You won't be getting away this time," Nox thought as he flipped through the pages, drinking as much information as he could. In the back of his mind, a part of him almost willed his transport to fly faster. He needed to get to the fight as quickly as possible, to make sure that Aanjay Laal didn't escape; to ensure she was brought in and that all of his efforts in Vale weren't wasted.

* * *

Greta fired Firebrand at another Red Fang fighter who was trying to grab at the Dust-hauler's security frame from his own vehicle. The faunus fell onto the road, bounced for an instant and then flattened, just as another vehicle ran him over. Greta cringed at the sight for a second before noticing another Red Fang member was trying to make the jump as well. Grimacing in an almost tired anger, Greta turned her weapon and fired at him as well, knocking him off of his car and onto the road.

The Red Fang were closing in on them now, more and more trucks were passing them by and hemming the Dust-hauler in and Team GRAP were thoroughly lost. Every time they did find a turn-off to another road the Red Fang would send another truck to head them off and keep them from moving off of the, now empty, highway. She had also been forced to kneel down to keep any Red Fang who were crazy or stupid enough to take a shot at a fully loaded Dust-hauler from firing at her.

'Greta,' Aurora called as she took a shot at the driver of a smaller car and knocked him out, sending the vehicle spinning off of the road. 'I'm almost out of ammunition.'

'We can't keep this up,' Rapture added as she ran over to a Red Fang fighter that had clambered onto the frame, picked him up by his shoulder and slammed his masked face into one of the bars. The Red Fang member was stunned by the blow and thrown off of the Dust-hauler.

'I know,' Greta said. 'I just...' she trailed off as she looked around. They were away from the wall now but they were practically surrounded and there was still no sign of the police. They could only go forward and, eventually, that probably wouldn't be an option either if the Red Fang managed to completely encircle them.

Frustrated, Great turned and fired another shot at the Red Fang. This time she aimed at the wheel of one of the trucks and punctured it. The truck wobbled for a little as the tyre gave way and fell apart and then veered as the driver struggled to keep his course. Slowing down, the truck was hit by another vehicle that had been speeding just behind it. Both trucks flipped into the air a little until the rearward one crashed back onto the ground and slid to a halt. The first, meanwhile, was thrown off of the road, everyone who had been riding it falling to the ground and crumpling around the wreckage of their vehicle.

'Aurora,' Greta shouted. 'Leave the guys boarding us to Rapture and shoot their wheels.'

Aurora nodded and adjusted her aim, firing at another truck and blowing the wheel to pieces with a high-impact Dust-round. The truck jolted for a moment and then slid along the road, swerving off of course. Greta panicked for a moment as she realised it was swinging towards the Dust-hauler but they quickly passed it and the Red Fang on the right-hand side of the tanker slowed down as they tried to avoid the crashing vehicle.

As if they had figured out what was going on, the Red Fang suddenly began closing in again. More and more masked faunus tried to leap onto the security frame and now they were working together, those who had a firm grip helping others climb on. Rapture ran forward to engage them but this time she was facing a much larger number of opponents and they were starting to climb up from behind her as well. Rapture kept her guard up as she blocked strikes and then hammered the Red Fang with one punch after another. Her usual preference for pounding her enemies repeatedly before knocking them away had been replaced by a swifter and more brutal style. Now she brought all of her strength into one heavy punch the immediately moved onto another, punching one faunus down before turning to take out the next and occasionally turning to beat down those who came up behind her.

Letting out a cry of anger as she lifted herself up from her kneeling position, Greta swung Firebrand at one of the Red Fang. The faunus' mask crunched and cracked as it was hit with the maul and the stunned Red Fang member fell off of the tanker, bouncing off several bars of the security frame as he went. There was little finesse as Greta swung her weapon at the faunus who were trying to approach Rapture from behind, Greta putting more attention on keeping her footing and preventing the Red Fang from countering her strikes.

Hitting another masked faunus off of the tanker, Greta looked ahead to see that she had managed to clear away most of the Red Fang behind Rapture. Her faunus teammate, meanwhile, was still keeping up with her own opponents. Unfortunately, many were actually managing to grab onto the frame and stopping their falls onto the road. Those who were still on the frame were also trying to help the Red Fang that Rapture was beating up, keeping them from dropping off of the security frame if they fell from the tanker from Rapture's strikes.

Groaning in annoyance, Greta lifted Firebrand and fired at the wheel of another truck that was coming up beside the Dust-hauler. The tyre burst and the wheel rim hit the road, skidding as the driver tried to regain control of his vehicle. The car slid to its right and Greta shrieked in panic as it slammed into the tanker, jostling everyone clinging to the frame and standing on top of the Dust-hauler.

There was an unbearable sound of metal skidding against one another and then an unbearable ripping sound for an instant. Sparks flew as metal tore and shredded. A section of the security frame crumpled inward, pulling bars apart and sending faunus flying as their hand and footholds gave way around them. Then one spark amongst the dozens of pricks of crackling light seemed to catch. A section of auxiliary piping on the tanker split open and processed grains of Dust caught alight. The grains turned into a stream and then the pipe ignited, a flame of off-colour fire burning in the side of the tanker. Greta's eyes widened as she watched the stream burn brighter and longer. It was not going to go out.

'Shit!' she shouted as Rapture and Aurora also realised what was going on. Everyone was stunned, even the Red Fang who had all halted and just watched the fire burn, dumbstruck at the sight.

Blinking, Greta finally snapped out of her stupor as sparks continued to fly and the stream of flame flew out of the ruptured pipe. Scrambling over the metal skin of the tanker, Greta ran to the other end of Dust-hauler. She swung down onto the cabin and looked into the cabin.

'We're on fire!' she screamed at Peter.

'What!' Peter shouted back, incredulous shock on his face.

'We're on fire,' Greta repeated, the situation still registering in her mind even after she had escaped her stunned state earlier.

Peter stared back at her in shock and Greta did the same before she finally noticed what he was doing. He was looking to her for answers, even as he broke eye contact with her and seemed to be looking out of his side-view mirror, likely to see where the Red Fang were and what his chances of getting away from them were. Greta looked down at the seat, trying to look at something uneventful and innocuous to help clear her mind for a second.

'Peter,' she said, still sounding a little panicked. 'Keep going forward as fast as you can. We're going to… we're going to get onto one of those trucks before the next turn-off. Go down it when we've done that.'

'What?' Peter asked in a disbelieving tone.

'Just… just keep... just wait for it, alright?' Greta said in as commanding a tone as she could muster after forcing through her stuttering. She then clambered off of the cabin and back onto the tanker.

The flaring tongue of fire that seemed to almost leak out of the tanker and was spreading as another pipe burst and caught along with it, immediately took over Greta's focus again. Though there wasn't any fuel for it to burn, the, now large, sheet of fire seemed to be burning much of the tanker's left-hand side as it met with other smaller ruptures in the metal that had been set alight. The Red Fang were abandoning the Dust-hauler, all of them trying to make a jump for whatever vehicle was close. In an attempt to rescue their comrades, the trucks that had been hemming in the Dust-hauler were still nearby but the ones on the left of the tanker were starting to put some distance between themselves and the fire.

'Guys,' Greta shouted as she ran towards Aurora and Rapture, the two of them still fighting the few Red Fang who had yet to abandon the attack on the Dust-hauler. 'We need to get out of here.'

'You don't say!' Aurora practically screeched. The dark-skinned girl had an incredibly distressed look on her face, a small explosion and burst of fire from the tanker having almost engulfed her only a moment ago. Another loud bang heralded another small rupture in the auxiliary piping. Greta wasn't sure how the tanker, as a whole, hadn't already detonated but she wasn't going to complain about what little good fortune they were receiving at present.

Looking around, Greta saw what looked like a large van that was still staying close to the tanker's right-hand side. A Red Fang member had leapt onto the roof and was digging claws into the roof of the vehicle in an attempt to cling on. The driver's seat was occupied with another masked faunus also in the front but aside from those three it was empty and, more importantly, relatively isolated from the rest of the convoy.

"That'll do," Greta thought – almost in relief – as she saw how far away nearly every other Red Fang vehicle was on that side. 'Guy!' she shouted. 'We're taking that van.'

'What!?' Aurora shouted, Rapture scrutinising the van.

'I need you all to jump on his van; right now,' Greta shouted back, glancing nervously between the vehicle and her teammates, hoping they would comply before the Red Fang drove further away.

'Are you serious!?' Aurora almost screamed. Behind her the fire grew and flared out once again. By this point the tanker was really beginning to rupture. Multiple coruscating colours swirled and blurred into one another as the elemental forces of Dust combusted and mixed together.

'Just do it!' Greta commanded, glaring at the other girls to make it clear she wasn't accepting any arguments or delays. They didn't have time.

Rapture frowned but she seemed to be scrutinising the van. Then, with a loud cry of anger, she leapt off of the Dust-hauler, passed over the security frame and landed on the door to the driver's seat, her Long Claw's claws digging into the metal to hold her still. Greta gaped at the faunus girl as she seemed to carve her bladed gauntlets into the door for a moment and the rip it off. Rapture threw herself into the front of the van and grabbed at the faunus in the front and threw the driver out, the other Red Fang member scrambling out of the door on the other side to avoid her.

Aurora grimaced and then jumped after her partner, swinging Dark Majesty over her head and switching it into its glaive form. She embedded the blade into the roof of the van and then twisted, swinging around the haft and kicking out at the Red Fang member who had been clinging to the roof. The masked faunus went flying off of the van and onto the road.

The last Red Fang member, a woman with antelope horns sticking out of the top of her head who had escaped from the driver's seat, tried to move away from Aurora. Seeing no safety on top of the vehicle where she had run to escape from Rapture, the antelope-woman jumped from her vehicle onto the Dust-hauler's cabin. At the same time, Greta made her own jump, landing on the roof and desperately grabbing at the metal until Aurora took a hold of her left arm and held her steady. She turned back to see the last Red Fang fighter was now holding onto the side of the cabin, right next to the door inside.

Peter finally swung up out of the cabin, actually spinning as he levered himself onto the roof. Already the Dust-hauler was starting to bank slowly to the left now that no-one was there to drive it. The Red Fang fighter had already climbed onto the roof of the cabin and, seeing Peter, charged at him. Reacting almost reflexively, Peter span on his heel and slammed his right foot into her stomach before she could reach him. The antelope-woman fell back onto the cabin, bounced and then lay still as Peter span back to face the van the rest of Team GRAP were on.

'Peter!' Greta shouted at her partner as the Dust-hauler rolled away, the Red Fang on that side of the massive tanker trying to get away. 'Get on here now!'

Peter seemed to hear her as he turned to look at the van. At the same time the tanker began to rupture more violently, a cascade of small explosions rolling from the rear of the vehicle in the direction of the cabin. Lightning, ice bursts and even cyclones that picked up fire, electricity and other elemental forces washed toward Peter in a wave of destruction. Even at a distance, Greta could feel the force of the Dust eruptions and she gripped the van's metal tighter as it pushed against her.

Peter flashed away from the cabin as the explosion came towards him and reappeared on top of the van but seemed to be desperately and gracelessly trying to get a hold of the vehicle. He slipped and flew to the side, off of the van and Greta's heart almost stopped.

'No!' she shouted as she reached out, almost letting go of the van as well as she tried to get a hold of her partner.

She managed to grab a hold of Peter's arm as the rest of his body almost flew off of the vehicle. The force of the explosion was reaching them, pushing them away and it lifted Greta into the air with her partner. Aurora, clinging to Dark Majesty's haft took a hold of Greta's shoulder and held her firm whilst Peter, realising he was held onto as well, gripped at Greta's hand.

It felt like they were moving; Rapture had probably found which pedal was the accelerator and was trying to escape the exploding Dust-hauler. Greta had just enough awareness in her panic to see that they had left the road and were now actually on one of the fields, speeding over exposed soil instead of asphalt.

The Dust-hauler finally exploded behind them. The metal of the tanker bulged as the Dust inside ignited completely, all of the exhausts and auxiliary piping now completely burnt out. The middle of the tanker, which was still speeding along the road, seemed to expand like a bubble for an instant and then it burst. Several more explosions blossomed out as packs of Dust detonated separately, forcing the wave of energy and force out further and further. Fire threatened to blind everyone in the area but other elemental forces were ignited as well. Lightning arced out in bolts that were never witnessed outside of the largest storms, whirlwinds of ice lashed out in flurries of Solitasian proportion and ringed wall of hurricane winds expanded outwards in a band that lifted everything around it into the air.

The Red Fang vehicles closest to the Dust-hauler were engulfed and obliterated completely as the explosive plume grew larger and larger. Enough Dust to break a hole in Vale's immense defensive wall was being ignited and anything that wasn't far enough away from it was destroyed instantly. The rest of the Red Fang's convoy were burnt up but remained whole long enough to be picked up by the explosion's force and were thrown around leaves in the wind. The Red Fang who had been outside their vehicles, hanging off of the sides or in the backs of exposed trucks, were bludgeoned by the explosion, many dying immediately from the impact whilst others were flung around, into one another, the debris in the air or – if they were low to the ground – into the road and surrounding fields.

Greta was just far enough away to see the explosion coming before it hit her. She didn't have enough to cry out or even shut her eyes before the wave of air struck her. She lost her grip on the van, on Peter, on anything and she clawed at the air as she was thrown hard into nothingness. Her ears felt like they had burst as the roar of the detonated Dust surrounded her and she lost all sense of direction in the oppressive cocoon of heat and energy that pressed against her body. Her Aura could have given out, it definitely felt like it as pain washed over her entire body as fire, ice and every force of the elements engulfed her. Then with an impact almost as harsh as the explosion's arrival, the world went black.

* * *

'Look out!' Adelheid shrieked as she saw the explosion plume rise up before her.

She ducked back through the, now open, sunroof of the car, landing in the back of the car in a relatively dishevelled and undignified state. She ignored the graceless arrival she had made and desperately hit the button to shut the sunroof and hoped the armour of the Skye's car could withstand what was about to hit them.

'Hold on!' Edmund shouted – or it may have been Elena, Adelheid wasn't sure as she caught sight of the oncoming wave of fire through the front wind-shield.

Adelheid had just enough time to get into a seat and brace herself but not enough to buckle herself in. She tried to grab a hold of the walls and lock her feet against the sides of the doors, to keep herself steady and in place but it was too late; the explosion hit the car.

Everything seemed to jolt and lurch as the car suffered a horrendous impact. Adelheid saw Edmund fight with the wheel and struggle to keep the car moving forward – or maybe to the left, or just any direction he could control. Then the vehicle tipped and Adelheid tried to keep herself in place whilst the rest of her team held onto their seats. A hand gripped her and she risked a glance to see that Tom had a hold around her waist.

Then the car seemed to lift off the ground and tipped. Adelheid's grip slipped and she floundered as the vehicle span around her and pushed her about, Tom's grip slipping as he panicked for an instant. It was then that Lach's arm shot out and took a hold of Adelheid's side. She was thrown to the side for a moment colliding with Tom and almost bouncing off of him, as the car rocked and toppled about, Adelheid saw Lach press himself against her, shielding her with as much of his body as he could. Seeing Tom directly underneath her, Adelheid decided to try to do the same for her leader who was now crushed against the door.

'Look out!' someone shouted, Adelheid didn't know who. All she knew was that suddenly a chunk of debris smashed through the front wind-shield at the exact same time that the car flipped.

Hot air and cacophonous noise flooded the car and Adelheid lost all orientation as the world span. Her head collided against the roof as Lach's grip slipped, bounced off and then smashed into the back of her seat. The images of the world twisted into one another for a moment, someone shouted – several may have, in fact – and then the world went black.

* * *

Greta groaned as, slowly, the world returned to her. Everything was hazy, her ears rang and it felt like someone had stabbed needles into her brain. Blinking desperately, Greta mustered enough strength to raise her arms and clutch her head. Things began to come into focus and the haze and spots in her eyes disappeared but there was little to actually see around her.

Dirt and dust filled the air, slowly falling to the ground but surrounding her with a choking, hazy mist of brown. Greta coughed as she inhaled the dirt, her face was still on the ground and she spat out mud as she pulled herself up on shaky arms. Looking down, she saw a thin green layer of light flicker over her skin; her Aura was still in place, but only just. Greta could see discoloured bruises fade a little and a disturbing sensation in her head let her know that her likely ruptured eardrums were stitching themselves together. She couldn't actively control her Aura but she knew that the power of her soul would always heal life-threatening injuries instinctively.

Looking around, she saw the last of the explosion beginning to fade. A large column of fire and Dust residue climbed into the sky, thick at the base and narrowing until it formed into the wide cap of a mushroom cloud, high in the sky. Already the top was thinning, the cap spreading out and dissipating. The last remnants of the explosion's noise were also disappearing into slightly suppressed echoes that rattled in Greta's head.

'...eta,' someone called. It sounded distant and muffled in her ruined ears. '...et… ere… ar... you?'

'Guys?' Greta shouted in return, coughing as she inhaled dust. Her voice sounded oddly muted and the damage to her ears made speaking feel oddly heavy for her head.

Two figures emerged from the dust, both of them leaning on one another. Greta blinked as the dirt cloud cleared a little and she saw Aurora and Rapture approach. Rapture was covered in cuts, blood coming from numerous small lacerations across the scales of her body, a particularly large trail descending from a cut just above her left eye which was slightly swollen shut. Aurora, on the other hand, was limping, her arm over Rapture's shoulder. The dark-skinned girl's clothes were covered in dirt and several dark bruises covered her arms and legs with a large discolouration on the right-hand side of her face.

'Thank the gods,' Greta muttered as she stumbled over to her teammates.

'Oh, thank the gods, Greta,' Aurora called out as she let go of Rapture and limped over, throwing her arms around Greta in relief. 'Where's Peter?'

'I… I don't...' Greta stammered out, her hearing still fuzzy.

'I'm fine,' Peter called out. Greta turned to see her partner walking over, clutching his side and grimacing. He too was covered in dirt and bruises and his free arm hung a little limply at his side.

'Peter,' Greta called out, stepping forward as Aurora let go of her and walking over to the boy. She hugged him, holding him tightly and eliciting a hiss of pain from her partner.

'We need to get out of here,' Greta then said, speaking more loudly.

'How,' Rapture asked as she walked over. 'The van's wrecked.'

'It doesn't look like anything else around here is actually roadworthy either,' Aurora added, wobbling a little until Rapture stepped up to prop the other girl up again.

'We have to try,' Greta insisted. 'Or maybe the others will show up. We can't just stay here.'

The others nodded, agreeing with her. Still, they all looked exhausted and demoralised for surviving such an atrocious experience. Many of them were still wounded and the fact that they were still recovering showed that everyone either had a shattered Aura or were in a very weakened state.

'Come on,' Greta said, turning away from the faded explosion and the shattered, burst wreckage of the Dust-hauler and looking for any kind of vehicle that could possible work.

She was about to walk off to a somewhat more complete wreckage to see if there was anything she could do with it when the ruined truck rocked. Greta took a step back, surprised at the vehicle's sudden movement. Something was still inside and it was rocking the truck's remained around. A second later one of the doors flew off, rocketed several metres into the distance and embedded itself, upright, in the ground.

Greta froze as a figure crawled out of the cabin of the truck. It was clear they were a faunus, that had been a Red Fang truck but as more of the dust cleared and Greta got a better look of the figure she began to panic. It was Aanjay Laal.

Aanjay was just as battered as the rest of them. Her tiger mask was cracked in places and even exposed an eye that was surrounded by scratches from the jagged edges of the broken section. Her hair was dishevelled and her clothes were torn in places, revealing rather nasty gashes that were already beginning to seal up as her Aura flared in an almost visibly angry fashion as amber, orange light flickered over her body. As always, the woman's mouth was visible and it was pulled open in the most vicious and insanely furious snarl Greta had ever seen in her life. In that moment, the faunus terrorist leader was the most terrifying thing that Greta had ever encountered.

For the moment everything was silent except for Aanjay's visibly heavy breathing as she seethed. It seemed that that she hadn't noticed their team but that possibility quickly disappeared as Aanjay looked around, moving with swift, predatory motions as she shifted the upper half of her body like a predator searching for prey. Then, she looked in Greta's direction and stopped, staring at her and the rest of Team GRAP behind her. Greta stood like a deer caught in headlights, silently praying that the faunus women hadn't actually seen them, however unlikely that would be.

Any hope she had died when Aanjay's plasma-gauntlets deployed and ignited. 'Run!' Greta shrieked as she turned and tried to sprint in the opposite direction from Aanjay.

Greta stumbled as she tried to run, the remaining damage to her eardrums leaving her reeling as her head swam. The others struggled just as much. Aurora was still limping, Rapture trying to carry her along but clearly suffering from something that Greta hadn't seen. Peter was grimacing as he led the way, still clutching his side and wobbling a little as he ran.

Aanjay Laal, meanwhile, had no such problems. She ran forward with an intense anger, quickly closing the distance between herself and Team GRAP. Seeing Aanjay close in, Greta grit her teeth and took out Firebrand, preparing to fight.

'Greta,' Rapture suddenly called out, 'take Aurora.'

Greta turned just in time to grab Aurora, who had been practically flung at her. Rapture had a determined look on her face as she turned around and deployed her gauntlets again. Before Greta could say anything, Rapture turned and charged at Aanjay.

'Rapture, no!' Greta shouted, the others saying the exact same thing as they all realised what their teammate was doing.

Rapture kept her guard up as she charged Aanjay, ducking under a swipe from the plasma-gauntlets. Her own strike, however, failed to connect, Aanjay twisting to avoid Rapture's fist. The Red Fang leader's return strike, however, did hit. Rapture cried out as her Aura flashed and shattered. The blow continued on, cutting into Rapture's chest in a large, diagonal gash that sent the faunus girl flying back. Aanjay's snarl became a vicious grin as she watched Rapture fall to the ground in front of her.

'Rapture!' the trio shouted in shock and alarm.

'No!' Aurora added, falling off of Greta as if she was about to try to run towards her partner.

Aanjay paused as she loomed over Rapture, her grin widening sadistically as she pulled her weapon back to give a finishing blow. For a second, Greta was sure that the faunus woman was looking at her, drawing out Rapture's execution for the sake of toying with all of them. She was enjoying their terror.

Peter flashed in, just before the blow fell, grabbing Rapture and then disappearing. Greta looked around desperately just in time to see the two of them re-materialise just behind her. Peter was breathing heavily and there was a look of panic on his face. Rapture, meanwhile, was barely breathing and the front of her chest was bleeding heavily, burnt flesh surrounding a massive, open wound. Greta balked at the sight of the horrific injury, her gorge rising.

Aurora had gotten Dark Majesty out and was on one knee, trying to keep her balance as she fired shot after shot at Aanjay. The Red Fang leader was slowed down as she struck the rounds out of the air before they could hit her, the plasma of her weaponry vaporising them before they detonated. Aurora kept firing as Aanjay strode towards them until her gun came up empty. Barely wasting a second, Aurora switched the ammunition clip and returned to firing.

'I'm almost out,' Aurora declared, refusing to turn away from the approaching Red Fang leader.

Greta looked at Peter to see what he could do but he shook his head. He was grimacing and still holding his side with one hand whilst trying to keep Rapture steady with the other. Rapture was still alive, at least as much as Greta could tell, but she was completely incapacitated and unresponsive. Biting her lip, Greta took out her scroll and checked her Aura. The level was low and barely recovering from the damage it had taken in the fight and explosion but there was just enough for her to do something.

As Aanjay closed in, Greta unfolded Firebrand and fired it at the faunus woman. The burst of flame caused Aanjay to back away and she raised her arms to block it as best as she could. Aurora took the opportunity to shoot off the last of her rounds, knocking Aanjay down to her knees. Greta kept the flame going but, at the same time, sent feelers of her Aura out to activate her Semblance.

A black tinted field surrounded the fire and, with her Semblance extended, Greta began to twist the flame. Cutting off the end of the flame from Firebrand, Greta gripped the flame she had already unleashed and threw it up, over her head in a twisting, writhing tendril and threw it back down at Aanjay.

Screaming in rage and exertion, Greta pulled the fiery tendril back and swung it at Aanjay again and again, sweeping it back and around so that she was striking the faunus woman from the side with every stroke. She rarely used her Semblance and didn't have that much finesse with it but she didn't need that at the moment, she just needed to keep Aanjay at bay.

She didn't know how long she hammered Aanjay but she made some progress, forcing her back, one step at a time. Her team, however, couldn't move. It was taking everything Greta had to maintain her Semblance, Aurora's leg still hadn't healed and Peter was unable to teleport, leaving Rapture practically unmoveable. When Greta's Aura gave way, they would still be stuck where they were; with Aanjay ready to take up the short chase once again.

Finally, the black aura around the fire spluttered and gave out. Greta collapsed, her Aura exhausted and she watched helplessly as the fiery tendril dissipated, revealing a very angry Aanjay Laal behind the space it had been hitting. Aanjay had her arms up but, with the fire that had been attacking her gone, she lowered them to glare at Greta, her one exposed eye filled with a maddened hatred. Greta saw that Aanjay's wounds looked more aggravated and she was wavering a little, her Aura flickering a little, but her stance was straightening and her laboured, hissing breathing was strengthening with every exhalation.

Exhausted, Greta raised Firebrand for some kind of last stand. Her team couldn't run and she wouldn't leave them so she prepared to make her show of defiance, no matter how hopeless it was. Aurora, now out of ammunition, switched Dark Majesty to its glaive form and Peter, still hovering near Rapture, drew a couple of his Allegros in their handgun forms.

Aanjay, her vicious snarl still on her face, reignited her plasma-gauntlets and began to stride over to them, slowly walking faster and faster with every step. Greta gripped Firebrand a little tighter in readiness for the ensuing fight. Then she saw someone else emerge from the fading dust of the explosion; behind Aanjay.

'Coburg!' a loud, angry voice boomed and Greta's eyes widened as Elizabeth charged out of the dust. She was just as dirty as Team GRAP but looked in much better shape and, more importantly, absolutely furious. Her chain-axe was already switched on, the sound of rotating teeth echoing louder and louder as she approached.

Aanjay turned as she heard Elizabeth's warcry, redirecting her glare at the Coburg girl. Elizabeth, meanwhile, was generating a bright glow along her body that she was directing into the head of her axe. Greta had seen Elizabeth's Semblance in action before and knew what was about to happen. Elizabeth raised her glowing axe over her head and, just as she was about to reach Aanjay, slammed it down into the ground in front of the Red Fang leader.

A wave of energy blasted out of the ground in front of Elizabeth and struck Aanjay. Greta saw Aanjay put up her guard but she was forced back several steps, sliding along the ground a little further but keeping her stance. Elizabeth barely wasted a second, pulling her axe back and swinging it again, clashing with Aanjay who raised her plasma-gauntlets to parry the attack. Elizabeth bounced her weapon back, spinning it in her hands and charging her Semblance again, directing the energy into the head of the axe and then swinging it again, connecting with a return strike from Aanjay. The energy exploded again and both fighters were thrown back several steps.

Aanjay braced herself and brought both of her weapons forward to make another strike and Elizabeth in return, made a brief flourish of her own weapon and then brought it into a striking position, a grin on her face. A second later a silver-white flash sped past her and Adelheid appeared, making a swipe at Aanjay. The blow was blocked but Aanjay took another step back and Adelheid, still hanging in the air, summoned another glyph to support her and pulled her sword back to thrust forward with her Dust-wand, releasing an ice burst. Aanjay hissed as the ice connected and blossomed out in a burst of icicles that struck her face before she could raise her guard again.

Maintaining her glyph, Adelheid used the power to push herself up and over Aanjay, flipping in the air and landing behind the faunus woman. At the same time, Elizabeth charged forward again, swinging her axe. Spinning her weapon as she approached, Elizabeth hammered down on Aanjay as she recovered. Aanjay moved her plasma-gauntlets to block every strike, making increasingly rapid and desperate strikes to stop the heavy head of the chain-axe. Then Adelheid rocketed forward, generating several glyphs around the fighting duo in order to bounce back and forth, swiping at Aanjay as she leapt from one glyph to the next at high speed. Aanjay managed to block both girls' attacks but was giving ground as she adjusted her position. Elizabeth and Adelheid kept up the attack, almost synchronising their strikes to make sure there was no space between them from Aanjay to rest, reorient herself or even breath.

'Guys!' Greta heard someone shout. Looking away from the battling trio, she saw the rest of Team TEAL arrive along with the Skyes. Tom waved his arm in the air frantically as he ran towards Greta, a look of intense worry on his face.

'Back 'em up,' Lach shouted as he switched his cutlass to its handgun form and began firing shots at Aanjay, timing them so that they missed Elizabeth and Adelheid, who was still flying around the faunus woman. He was joined by Elena who raised what looked like a mecha-shift rifle and added her own fire to Lach's.

'Guys!' Greta called out. 'Keep back! Don't let her hit you.'

Elizabeth and Adelheid, both too focused on their fight, ignored her but Tom seem to have heard as he started giving out frantic orders that Greta couldn't hear. Lach and Elena stayed where they were, sending out shots whenever there was a gap in the attack formation Elizabeth and Adelheid were maintaining. Edmund stayed put but had his hand on the pommel of a sword, standing in a striking position, as if he were waiting to leap forward.

Elizabeth fired off another burst of her Semblance, channelling it through her body this time and releasing it when she stamped her foot. Aanjay held her ground but was unable to block a hit from Adelheid who also didn't waste any time in firing more ice-Dust after landing on the next glyph in her array. Finally, Aanjay was beginning to look worn down. The next swing from Elizabeth, who span several times on the spot, actually connected, hitting Aanjay in her side and sending her spinning into the air for nearly a metre before she fell to the ground.

With Adelheid still flying behind her, waiting for a chance to strike, Elizabeth charged forward again and swung her axe. Aanjay braced herself but didn't raise her guard. When the axe hit her in her side again, she instead brought her arm down and trapped the weapons haft. Elizabeth's eyes widened as Aanjay locked her position and kept her from pulling back. Grinning sadistically, Aanjay then grabbed the axe's haft and swung it, Elizabeth, her own grip still strong, getting lifted off of her feet and swung with it. Aanjay kept a hold of the axe until she had spun around completely and then let the weapon and Elizabeth go, the girl flying through the air and colliding with Adelheid before she could dodge out of the way. Both girls fell to the ground in a pile, dazed by the sudden attack.

Finally given a chance to recover, Aanjay ignored the shots that were still hitting her and roared in anger. Lifting her plasma-gauntlets, she fired them at Lach and Elena who ducked out of the way of the shots. With the fire against her now having ended, Aanjay reignited her weaponry and charged in Team TEAL's direction.

Edmund drew his blade and rushed to meet her, parrying an attempted overhead strike from Aanjay but almost getting forced to his knees by the blow. Edmund tried to push back against her but struggled and only kept himself from being knocked to the ground. Elena switched her rifle to a spear and rushed in to aid her brother and managed to force Aanjay away with a swing from her weapon, the strike missing but pushing Aanjay back several steps. Aanjay growled as she regained her stance and swiped at the Skye twins, scattering them away from one another. Edmund reached out his hand and seemed to be concentrating on Aanjay but whatever he was trying to do had no effect and the faunus woman leapt at him, her plasma-gauntlets pulled back to strike.

Edmund fell back again as he tried to avoid Aanjay, just in time for Lach to begin firing at the faunus woman again. Aanjay weathered the fire, snarling as he Dust rounds bounced off of her Aura. She was about to turn back to Edmund when an especially powerful shot struck her in the chest, knocking her off of her feet.

Greta looked away to see Team JETT appear. Jedd lowered what looked like a massive handgun, another, similar weapon in his other hand. 'Thaba! Give her Humongous!' Jedd shouted to his massive teammate.

Thaba jogged up and pulled up his arm. A massive tonfa was attached to a metal band around his wrist. It span on a pivot, rotating around and then opened up, seamless mecha-shift panels unfolding and shifting over one another. Greta was almost shocked as the weapon widened and then a series of barrels emerged, tiny machine parts folding over one another and locking together. Numerous other components emerged from within the expanding body and barrels until the tonfa had transformed into a massive multi-barrelled minigun. With the body of the gun still attached to his right wrist, Thaba gripped a handle and trigger with his left hand and pointed the weapon at Aanjay.

Aanjay pointed one of her plasma-gauntlets at Thaba and fired just as he was finished deploying his minigun. Thaba ducked as the bolt of plasma approached, giving Aanjay enough time to disengage and run. Re-aiming the minigun again, Thaba waited for everyone to realise and move out of the way and then opened fire.

A dull whine filled the air as the barrels began to rotate and then flared, spitting out round after round at blinding speed. For a moment the ground behind Aanjay was chewed up as Thaba adjusted his aim, dirt flying into the air as the Dust rounds hit the ground and detonated. Aanjay ran for one of the ruined vehicles scattered around the area and, just as the bullets were about to catch up to her, ducked behind the mangled, metal wreck.

Bullets impacted the wrecked truck and began to tear pieces off of it, denting the portions that didn't immediately disintegrate under the hail of bullets. Thaba kept up his fire as the others waited for Aanjay to emerge. Elizabeth and Adelheid had gotten back to their feet and the others were on guard. Greta – herself, had raised Firebrand back up and Peter was also waiting with his handguns. Aurora, meanwhile, had turned to check on Rapture. Greta quickly looked back to her dark-skinned teammate to see that she was visibly distraught and worried for her partner as she hovered over her, visibly struggling to think of something to do.

'Hold!' Jedd shouted to Thaba. Most of the truck had been destroyed but the main section was still in place and even Thaba's sustained fire was failing to do more than blow small holes into the body. Clearly it had been reinforced a little bit around the chassis.

Thaba ceased firing but remained on guard, everyone else tensing in preparation for anything. Greta wanted to go over to them and had even been slowly inching in their direction but every time she looked in the direction of Rapture and Aurora and stayed close. She couldn't leave them; Aurora was trying to keep pressure on the wound and had even torn off a portion of her half-skirt to try to staunch the bleeding but the wound was massive.

Everyone was silent as they watched and waited. The dust from the explosion had settled and the noise had finally disappeared, leaving a void of silence; there wasn't even birdsong or the distant roar of traffic. Then the wrecked truck rocked a little. Greta's eyes narrowed and she braced, just in time for a section of the truck, what appeared to be the ravaged remains of a door, flew off of the wreckage, jagged edges spinning as it flew towards the group.

'Shit!' Jedd shouted as the door flew at him. The group scattered as the large chunk of broken metal embedded itself in the ground, bounced back into the air again and then landed again, stuck upright in the dirt.

Aanjay leapt from behind the wreckage and fired off both of her plasma-gauntlets at the group, forcing them to dodge. With everyone distracted, she reignited her weapons and charged at them, firing and lighting her weapons as she went. Jedd did managed to bring both of his handguns up and fired as he moved but both shots were dodged and he drew Aanjay's fire in return.

'Adelheid,' Tom shouted as he moved to stay out of the way. 'Slow her down.'

Adelheid summoned another glyph and, despite looking like she was flagging, launched herself at Aanjay at rapid speed. Aanjay was able to block but was forced to stand her ground and brace against Adelheid's assault. Edmund had charged forward at the same time and, as Adelheid jumped back from Aanjay, swung his own blade at the faunus woman. The strike was blocked but, once again, Aanjay was forced to stay in place as Edmund tried to rain blows down on her.

'Lach, back them up. Keep her in place,' Tom ordered.

Lach ran forward, his weapon now in its cutlass form once again. He avoided Edmund's own array of strikes as he swung at Aanjay's back. Aanjay spun around and blocked him but was now struggling to keep up. One of Edmund's blows glanced her just as Adelheid ran in and stabbed Aanjay with her Dust-wand. An ice burst blossomed over Aanjay's shoulder, where she had been hit, freezing it as well as a portion of her neck and left arm.

Aanjay took a moment to break the ice, roaring in rage as she did so and span in place, swinging both her arms with a feral savagery. She snarled viciously, animalistic sounds coming up out of her throat as she threw herself at first Lach and then Edmund. Tobias came forward to try to keep her back, blocking one of her plasma-gauntlets with his own weapon, a machete that flickered with Dust generated light. Elizabeth ran forward to do the same, practically dancing as she span on the spot, her axe spinning and arcing around her. Aanjay had seemed to have enough control to notice the attacks and dodge them but her movements were graceless compared to before.

'Scatter,' Jedd ordered and everyone pulled away from Aanjay as Egeria raised her own weapon, a mecha-shift crossbow.

Egeria fired a bolt into the air. As it arced into the air and began to descend, it opened up, mecha-shift components folding out, and split into several smaller shards. Falling in a small volley, the darts rained down on Aanjay, detonating on and around her. Egeria loaded another bolt immediately and fired it at Aanjay, the same happening again and stunning Aanjay with a second volley of mecha-shift darts. When the dust began to clear, Aanjay was still standing, but only just. The Red Fang leader was barely on her feet and she breathing heavily but her weapons remained lit, even if they hung somewhat limply at her side.

Seeing a chance, Greta ran forward. She was slow, fatigue and her wounds taking a toll on her and her Aura was still depleted but she had to finish this. She set off just as the second volley hit, Firebrand in her hand. She folded it back into its maul form and held it ready. The instant Aanjay emerged from the cloud of Dust, Greta raised Firebrand and fired it, getting as close as she dared before pulling the trigger.

A burst of fire-Dust round shrapnel hit Aanjay just as she turned to face Greta. The shrapnel struck Aanjay in the face, knocking her over, shattering her Aura and finally rendering her unconscious. Greta backed away, unwilling to believe that the Red Fang leader had actually been beaten.

Everyone was stunned. Silence once again descended on the entire group as they stared at the prone form of Aanjay Laal. Greta waited, panic slowly building as she expected the faunus woman to open her eyes and get up once again. She had so many time before and had fended them off so many times it seemed impossible for her to be defeated; by them anyway.

'Greta,' someone shouted. Greta span around, turning from Aanjay Laal just in time to catch Tom who hugged her. He held onto her for only a moment before stepping back and looking at her. 'Thank the gods you're alright.'

Greta looked to see that everyone else was looking at them, some form of relief on their faces as they realised that Team GRAP were safe and that they had all survived the fight. Lach started chuckling, disbelief in his laughter and was joined by Elizabeth, Jedd, Tobias and even Egeria. Jedd started laughing as well though his mask made it sound indescribably disturbing. Elena went over to Edmund who simply looked tired, though he had a smile on his face. Thaba and Adelheid, meanwhile, remained quite, standing vigilantly, as if they too expected Aanjay to recover and begin the fight again.

Peter walked up and put his hand on her shoulder. Greta was surprised by the gesture for a moment as it snapped her out of the last of her escalating trepidation. Her partner had an exhausted expression on his face but he did smile at her and Greta returned the gesture, making a small, tired smile. Looking back at Aanjay again it was now clear; she wasn't getting back up. They had won.

'Greta,' Aurora called back.

Greta's eyes widened as she spun around, remembering Rapture. Her faunus teammate was still lying on the ground, unmoving except for the distressingly slow rise and fall of her chest. She was no longer visibly bleeding but the strips of cloth that Aurora held down were disgustingly red from her partner's blood. Aurora's expression was one of desperation and fear as she silently begged Greta for some kind of help, some decision or order; something to do that would save Rapture.

'Shit,' Greta cursed under her breath as panic rose inside her once again. 'Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.' she ran up to Rapture to get a closer look and comfort Aurora, Peter following after her. Once she got to Aurora's side, however, she realised she had no idea what to do.

'Guys,' Greta called out, getting everyone's attention. 'Help us. Rapture's hurt.'

That galvanised everyone from their previous states of exhausted shock or relief. They all ran over, Tom and Lach leading the way as they ran over to their injured friend. Greta swore she saw several of them blanch as they got a better look at Rapture's bloody wound.

'Oh gods,' Lach mumbled. 'What happened ta her?'

'Aanjay got her,' Greta explained, tears welling in her eyes as she remembered what had happened. She started to hiccup as sobs threatened to come out of her throat. Now that everything was over her teammates state was finally hitting her with all the force of a tidal wave. 'It was just before you guys showed up. 'She tried to stop her. Aurora's leg was… we were...'

'Get out of the way,' Jedd ordered, parting everyone as he walked up and loomed over them all. He seemed to study Rapture with an analytical intensity. He then began to lower himself down closer to Rapture and Greta was about to say something when they heard the distant sound of sirens.

'The police?' Tom asked, his question hanging in the air.

"Oh now they show up," Greta thought bitterly as the noise got closer. Then another thought hit her.

'We need to get out of here now,' Greta said. 'If we get caught here we're dead.'

'Bugger,' Peter cursed quietly, just loud enough for Greta to hear. 'If we're caught here, like this then we'll definitely be expelled,' he then said in a louder tone.

Greta froze as Peter finally vocalised exactly what she had been thinking; and fearing. Once again, the threat of expulsion and the utter ruination of every plan she had made in her life loomed overhead. The others seemed to have picked up on the same possibility, even if they weren't in the same situation as Team GRAP. They may not be under suspension but something this big and destructive could see them kicked out of Beacon as well, regardless of whether or not they had brought the Red Fang to justice.

'Does anyone still have a car?' Tom asked.

'Ours' is totalled,' Edmund said forlornly.

'Dad's gonna kill us,' Elena stated in a similar tone.

'I think ours still works,' Thaba said. He had lifted his mask off, revealing his face again. 'I don't know if it can take everyone though.'

'It'll have to,' Jedd rumbled as he stood up. He then turned to Tobias and Egeria. 'What about the bikes?'

'There wasn't that much damage, at least when I landed,' Egeria said, frowning a little. 'I think it could take another person with me.'

'Same,' Tobias added, he then looked away, listening to the sirens that were getting louder. 'We're gonna have to be quick though. The fuzz are getting closer.'

'Alright, we're going to have to be quick,' Jedd said, adopting an authoritative tone that his mask made all the more domineering. 'Get her on our truck. It's not that far from here and I made sure it still runs before we got here. I want two of you to go with Egeria and Toby. You'll be riding with them. The rest of you are with me.'

'Pick Rapture up; and be careful,' Greta said, bending down to carefully pull her teammate up. She wrapped an arm under her torso, hoping that she was doing it correctly. She had taken basic first-aid classes at Signal but had never studied anything to do with injuries this severe, especially when the victim was in a state of Aura exhaustion like Rapture had been.

Peter and Aurora also helped pick up Rapture's body, Tom holding her head up whilst Lach took her legs. Aurora still looked despondent, her expression only changing to one of worry whenever she looked at her partner. Greta bit her bottom lip as they tried to carry Rapture away from the battlefield as quickly as they could. The sound of sirens was still distant but they were closer than they had been a minute ago.

Jedd led them past the Dust-hauler, Egeria and Tobias splitting off, taking Elizabeth and Adelheid with them respectively. They both jogged off to the sides of the ruined tanker whilst Jedd carried on past the wreckages of crashed trucks and the dead, unconscious, trapped or stunned bodies of Red Fang members. None of the faunus moved, even those who were alive or awake. They seemed to still be recovering from the explosion. Greta finally saw some motion when they came across a female rhinoceros faunus, a woman with dark grey skin and a horn in the centre of her forehead, that was cradling the obviously dead body of another rhinoceros woman and crying silently.

They finally came to one of the few vehicles to still be upright. It was Jedd's truck though it was dented in places, the paint was scraped and the whole thing was covered in dirt and dust. For a moment, she saw Edmund and Elena turn their heads to the right and, following their gaze, she saw what looked like the car the Skyes had driven, flipped upside down with a chunk of debris through the front window and a front bumper impaling the engine block.

'Rapture goes in first,' Jedd commanded as they got up to his truck and he unlocked the rearward door, flipping it down.

Greta gingerly carried Rapture in and gingerly laid her down along with the others. Then she climbed in and rested her back against the truck's cabin, ever taking her eyes off of her teammate. The others all piled in, taking care to not press against or stand on Rapture. It was difficult fitting everyone in whilst giving the injured faunus girl the space she needed but they all got in.

'Thaba,' Jedd said as he also clambered in the back and pushed everyone aside so that he could sit next to Greta. 'You're driving. Get us out of here, now.'

Thaba practically dove into the cabin despite his large size and a second later the engine roared into life. Tears span and only sank into the dirt for a second before the truck lurched forward. Greta was jolted a little and reached out to steady herself, one hand taking a hold of Rapture to make sure she wasn't jostled. The faunus girl let out a quiet groan and her face twitched in discomfort.

They built up speed quickly and were joined by the bikes, their riders clearly visible as they rode close to the truck. With the police coming down the road, Thaba turned onto the fields and rode off, carving a path through the plough furrows. Though it took some time, the battle site receded away from view, the sirens once again fading.

Despite this, Greta couldn't calm down. Rapture was injured, they could still be caught and she had no idea how they could avoid detection. There was so much that could go wrong and, once again, she had on idea how she was going to get herself and everyone else out of it. Looking back down at Rapture, a girl she had been responsible for and who was now gravely injured, Greta tried to think of a way to fix her situation but nothing was coming.


	19. Chapter Nineteen: Is It Over:

**Chapter** **Nine** **teen** **:** **Is It** **Over** **:**

 **November** **1** **5** **th** **1** **462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

For the second time that day the almost featureless fields of the Vale Agricultural District sped by, the identical irrigation and harvesting devices bleeding into one another as the bland, unsewn dirt. It had only been five minutes since they had ran from the battlefield they had defeated Aanjay Laal on and no-one was sure that they had actually gone unnoticed by the police that had been approaching when they left. They had certainly left enough evidence of their presence for even a half-baked investigation to pin several of them at the scene of the fight.

None of this mattered to Greta who, after realising that the police weren't already chasing had turned back to another matter. Her teammate, Rapture, was lying on the back of Team JETT's truck, a large open wound running from one end of her chest to the other. Rapture was breathing at a slow but steady rate and her wound was dressed, albeit in a messy fashion but there was an atmosphere of intensity whenever anyone looked at the injured girl.

'Alright,' Jedd Nechten said, breaking the nervous silence. He had been looking out over the horizon, likely checking for police forces. 'She's stable, for now; but we have to act quickly.'

'Then why weren't you doing anything?' Aurora snapped. It had only been a few minutes since they had left the site where Rapture had been injured but she had been getting visibly distraught now that they had escaped every other immediate threat.

'You wanted to get out of here right?' Jedd said, eyes narrowing as he loomed over Rapture and checked the injury again. 'Making sure we do that comes first then.'

Aurora grimaced, an angry glare in her eyes. Jedd ignored it, instead analysing the injury. He then sighed, his mask making the noise sound like a mechanical hiss as he did so. His eyes softened for a moment, as if he were depressed and then he pounded on the back of the cabin.

'Yeah,' Thaba said, turning a little to open a back window but keeping his eyes on the road.

'Pass me the med-kit,' Jedd said. Thaba, eyes still on the road, rummaged in the cabin a little and then pushed a small bag through the window and into Jedd's hands.

Opening the bag, he rummaged in it for a second and then pulled out a plastic tube and took off the cap. Placing the tube in his lap, he then put both of his hands on Rapture's shoulders.

'For it is through ascension we achieve immortality,' he began, reciting a chant Greta had heard many times in Signal, every teacher giving a different variation with the same tone, 'thus overcoming all challenges and inspiring great things. Unstoppable in might and passed beyond death, I release your soul and by my hand, raise thee.'

'An Aura unlocking ritual?' Peter asked, having turned, along with everyone else, to see what Jedd would do.

Jedd slumped over and his masked hissed again as his breathing became quicker and heavier. He suddenly looked very tired. At the same time Rapture gasped and convulsed a little before resting back down to the floor, the dark green light of her Aura shimmering over her body before fading into her again, unbroken but invisible again.

'You can use it to kick-start someone's Aura,' Jedd explained, sounding exhausted even through his mask and respirator. 'Wouldn't advise doing it though. It hurts; you and whoever you're doing it to.'

Recovering, Jedd then pulled away the scraps of cloth Aurora had used to stop Rapture bleeding, grabbed the tube and squeezed it, silvery, viscous gel running out into his hand. Taking one more breath, he then put the tube down, rubbed it into his hands and began to rub the wound. His hands ran up and down Rapture's chest, rubbing the liquid over the wound and getting several flashes of Aura from the injured areas as he worked.

'Dust based disinfectant and Aura stimulating gel,' Jedd explained, answering the unasked question everyone was thinking. 'It gives her Aura another kick and should help stimulate the healing process. We're going to have to do this a few times, though.'

'I'll take care of it,' Aurora stated, shuffling from her spot. Tom, who had been sitting next to Greta, moved away to let Aurora get closer to Rapture. 'You look like you're going to collapse.'

'Why, thank you,' Jedd drawled through his mask. He then handed her the gel tube and slumped back, his tense demeanour fading away as he visibly slumped in his seat. Greta could see an odd sense of relief on the upper portion of his face and his mask hissed as the respirator that covered his mouth expanded and contracted in a lethargic fashion.

Aurora bent over and applied more gel to her hands before spreading it onto Rapture chest. She worked with a worried expression on her face, everyone else clustered over her. Greta even saw Edmund and Elena, who had been sitting at the back of the truck, had stood up in order to see over the others.

'That's enough,' Jed said after several minutes, raising an arm but not making any real effort to reach out for Aurora. 'Give her another hour and then add some more.'

Aurora paused for a moment hung over her partner but eventually sat back, not taking her eyes off of Rapture. The wound on Rapture's chest was now covered in a silvery film that shone a little as the Dust reacted to Rapture's Aura and stimulated her body's recovery. A thin dark-green light flickered over the area on occasion as Rapture's Aura flared for a moment and then died down again.

For several minutes everyone was quiet as they sat and tried to recover from what had just happened. Greta was still struggling to come to terms with what she had survived. Then, as she looked away from Rapture and past everyone to the fields outside of the truck, something else came to the forefront of her mind.

'Guys,' she began tentatively, almost hoping that she would forget what she was just about to ask, 'how do we keep the teachers from figuring out what we've done?'

Everyone's faces dropped as the question almost visibly washed over them and realisation dawned. Several of the group looked themselves and everyone else up and down but it didn't take a second or even a first look for everyone to know that they were filthy, bloody and exhausted. There was no way they could explain away their current conditions. Before they got back to Beacon, they needed to clean themselves up.

* * *

'Okay,' Greta said with a sigh as everyone clustered around her. 'We need to work out a cover story.'

The question of how they were going to cover up what they had done had gone unanswered for hours as the group made their way through the district to the train station. They had drawn some looks from people as they loaded the truck and the bikes onto the maglev train but, thankfully, nothing had come from them. Now they were all sat on or around the truck, Thaba on the cabin and those who had taken the bikes standing at the truck's side, peering past the others to see what was going on. Rapture was still in the middle, unconscious but breathing steadily, her wound now tender and pinkish white, but shut.

'Yeah,' everyone said, some of them mumbling non-committally. Some of them, particularly Aurora and Peter who still had the remains of their slowly healing injuries on their bodies, still seemed dazed from the battle.

'So how do you expect us to hide this?' Adelheid asked in a disbelieving tone.

'We can't,' Egeria said, loudly. 'How _could_ we hide _this_? I mean, look at us.'

'She's right,' Tobias added, nodding with a frown. 'I mean, the truck and the bikes are gonna be impossible to cover up. Then there's her,' he gestured at Rapture. 'Who do you think would buy anything other "we were somewhere we shouldn't have been?" It wouldn't normally matter to me; but you guys are gonna be fucked the moment anyone at Beacon sees us limp back onto campus.'

As the group began to bicker over how unlikely it was going to be for them to hide the evidence of their fight, agreeing with one another but still keeping an argumentative tone as they talked. Greta, for a moment, put her head in her hands and stifled a groan that was threatening to come out of her throat.

It was then that she felt someone tap her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Tom was now sitting next to her. He looked down at Rapture with an unsure and concerned expression and then turned back to Greta.

'We need to hide the truck,' he declared.

Across from him, Jedd shifted, moving around Rapture until he was closer. He nodded in agreement to Tom's statement as the three of them settled into what Greta realised was now going to be a leaders conference behind the truck's cabin.

'Not just the truck,' Jedd said. 'We need to clean up. I can park the truck in a garage and get it fixed up later but this,' he gestured to himself and then swung his arm around, indicating Tom and Greta and the dirt that covered them all, 'will really give us away.'

'Do you think we could find a laundromat?' Greta asked.

'Egeria's outfit is dry-clean only,' Jedd immediately said, rolling his eyes. 'I'm pretty sure there's several others who's clothes can't just be thrown in a machine.'

Greta sighed but nodded in agreement. She had seen what Aurora and Peter usually went through to make sure their custom clothing was properly washed, dried and prepared and Lach had mentioned Elizabeth and Adelheid doing the same. Laundry was very serious business for the richer members of Team GRAP and TEAL.

'Alright,' Greta sighed, realising it wasn't going to be easy. She put her head in her hands, still feeling tired, and wracked her brain in an attempt to find answers. "Come on. Come on," she implored herself as a solution continued to refuse to emerge.

'I guess we'll just have to buy new clothes,' Tom stated in a matter of fact tone.

There was a pause as what Tom had suggested registered in Greta's mind. Her eyes flickered to Jedd who was clearly digesting Tom's words as well, nodding at her a second later as he came to the same conclusion Tom had. She did glance down at her outfit for a second, just to confirm that, like everyone else, she was covered in dirt.

'We'll need to find a bathhouse or something too,' she finally added.

'Yeah,' Jedd agreed, his eyes flicking over the rest of the group and settling for a few seconds on the Skye twins. He then turned back to Greta and Tom with a smirk as they recognised the look in his eyes; the look of a plan formulating. 'How many of your team carry money on them?'

* * *

Nox knew there were a lot of things that got under his skin. Despite the austerity of his largely Revanchist upbringing – which had always seemed out of place in Vacuo's unruly culture and generally liberal history – he was a man of intense emotions, particularly rage, which he channelled to intimidate his opponents. There was, however, very little that he would admit upset him. What was lying in front of him right now was one of them and he didn't have his mask to hide his expressions from the world.

He had found his car, and he wasn't happy about it. Shortly after arriving and beginning the search, he had found the wreckage. The cleanup wasn't particularly exciting, the fight having been taken out of the Red Fang. Right now his men, the Valesian police and a group of local Huntsmen were overseeing the detainment of the, now unmasked, faunus terrorists and were loading them onto a convoy of large prison transports. The most exciting thing Nox had done since he had arrived had been justifying his presence to the police.

The looks on their faces as they struggled to find some legal reason to bar independent Huntsman from assisting in a mass arrest had been rather satisfying. He hadn't even bothered to hide his smirk as they looked at his Shade Academy identification badge and those of his men before handing them back and reluctantly letting them continue rounding up faunus.

Then, as he had been handing over a couple of cuffed Red Fang members to a Valesian police droid, he had seen a familiar vehicle lying among the wreckage of the battle. Running over to it he confirmed his suspicions, it was his car; or what was left of it, anyway.

Looking over the car, he once again assessed the damage. Most of it was superficial, dents in the bodywork, scratches on the paint – in some areas the paint job had been practically stripped off – but the two biggest problems were on the front. Nox tried not to wince as he looked at the solid chunk of unidentifiable debris that had punched through the windshield and wreaked havoc on the inside. He could see the front seats had been torn out and shoved into the back and the windshield's rim was rent where the debris had first impacted it. Even that, however, paled in comparison to the car bumper that had detached from it's original vehicle and impaled the engine block. Nox stared at the offending bumper as it stood upright, tall and proud like a flagpole, in the hole it had speared through the front-bonnet.

"I can fix this," Nox reminded himself in his head, sighing through his teeth as he did so. "Of course I can fix this. Doesn't mean I like it."

'Sir,' one of his men called out. Nox had ordered them to forgo his official title while they operated in wider Vale. 'We've found Laal.'

All thoughts of his car vanished from Nox's mind and he span on his heel and stormed over in the other Vacuite's direction, a purposeful scowl on his face. The soldier didn't say anything as Nox approached, simply nodding and turning to lead to wherever Laal had been found.

They marched through the site of the battle. Nox had actually been surprised at the state of the area when he arrived. He had been expecting something big when the news came that the Red Fang had been fighting along the highway; a fortified dugout, maybe, or a trail of wreckage from a running the battle. When he had seen the, quite literally, far-flung debris of what had to have been a massive explosion, he had actually been stunned.

The practically obliterated skeleton of a violently ruptured Dust-hauler lay in the middle of a large crater, the surrounding area coated in churned up dirt and debris from what he knew had been an enormous explosion. It didn't really take any guesses from him to know that the vehicle had been the one he had caught the Red Fang with only a few days ago. Around it were other burnt and broken carcasses of various trucks and vans, many of which had been flipped over or showed signs of having been picked up by the force of the explosion and thrown far.

When he and his men had made it past the edges of the battlefield and to the ravaged epicentre, Nox had finally let his surprise show to his men, even if it had only been a widening of his eyes and s slight opening of his mouth in disbelief. He had seen worse aftermaths but if his suspicions about who was responsible were true – and it was practically a certainty now – he was admittedly impressed with his children. It would almost be worth what they had done to the car.

Finding Aanjay Laal wasn't difficult, all of his men had given up the survey of the field to converge on her location. Disappointingly, she was unconscious when Nox arrived.

'We found her like this, sir,' a woman, one of his troops, reported as Nox walked up to their cluster.

Nox didn't say anything. He instead walked up to where Laal was lying, his men moving out of the way automatically. Aanjay Laal was sprawled on the floor, most of her mask broken and exposing her left eye and a portion of her face around it. Her clothing was coated in dust and soot and torn in places but mostly intact and she had a pair of wrist-mounted metallic boxes attached to her arms. Nox remembered her weapons and the fact that most of the internal workings that activated the gauntlet's plasma blades were deployed told him that she had been in a fight, and had lost.

'Did you call this in?' Nox asked.

'Yes, sir,' one of his men replied. Nox didn't look up, staring at the unconscious faunus woman who lay at his feet. 'The Valesians requested we observe her until they can provide the appropriate restraints.'

'We might as well do our part in detaining her then,' Nox said. 'Cuff her.'

'Yes, sir,' his men said as one. The woman who had spoken when he arrived stepped forward and took a pair of plastalloy cuffs off of the back of her belt.

Two of Nox's men bent down and grabbed Aanjay's arms and shoulders, hauling the unconscious faunus woman up. Aanjay stood, slumped between them, her head lolling forward and her feet dragging on the ground behind her as the two Vacuite Hunstmen held her up in the air. Acting quickly, the men manoeuvred her so that they could push her arms back and let the Huntress cuff her wrists.

Nox studied the woman as his men continued to hold her. Aanjay was covered in scratches and bruises, the largest of which was visible on her face, just at the top of the section revealed by the broken mask. There were no deadly blows that he could detect and the cuts were already scabbing over, showing that she was still suffering from Aura exhaustion. It wouldn't last, he knew that much.

'Nox Skye,' a loud robotic voice intoned. 'Please relinquish the prisoner to our custody immediately.'

Nox turned to see a trio of Atlesian Knight 100 model android march up to him, the Valesian national flag painted on their shoulders. Several police officers clad in heavy armour were approaching behind them as well. Two of the droids carried a jacket covered in straps and clips in their arms that they held open, ready for Aanjay Laal.

Staring the droids down for a moment, Nox then turned to his men and nodded, wordlessly. The men hauled Aanjay over to the Valesian droids who opened up the jacket and wrapped her in it. With a quick efficiency, they fastened the clips and pulled the straps tight. Another, larger strap was pulled down from the front that had more restraints on it that were attached to Aanjay's legs and then fastened together. Nox watched impassively as the faunus terrorist was bodily restrained and then picked up by the droids.

Looking past the droids, Nox saw the Valesian police officers had pulled back some distance to a huge, rectangular vehicle, almost the size of a battleship, that was placed on a long series of circular spherical wheels, with a prominent, prow-shaped bridge sticking out of one end. A ramp at the other end had been lowered, allowing officers and droids to herd cuffed faunus into the bulky vehicle. Nox focused on the officers as they stopped to talk with several other figures and quickly realised they were talking with a very familiar group of young Huntsmen and Huntresses.

Teams GOLD and SWRZ were on the scene, cooperating with the police to oversee the detainment of the Red Fang and their incarceration in a massive, blocky police transport. For a moment, Geoffrey Strong of Team GOLD looked his way and, it seemed, nodded in recognition, or possibly respect. Nox could not exactly tell. Immediately after that gesture, Geoffrey then turned back to the approaching droids and directed them to the police's immense mobile prison that was parked behind him.

A flicker of irritation passed through Nox's brain as he watched what he had considered the prize of his extended stay in Vale get locked away. Not only had he failed to be directly involved in her incapacitation – or death, as he would have preferred – but he didn't even have the satisfaction of properly apprehending her.

"I could have done without one of my cars getting sacrificed to get her," Nox thought idly as he turned away from the Valesians and back to his men, his mind turning to other, pressing matters.

'Now,' he said in his usual commanding tone, 'we find my children.'

* * *

Greta watched anxiously as, once again, the Aura stimulating gel was applied to Rapture's chest. The faunus girl had a strong, blackish glow around her, indicating her Aura had recovered and the wound was already sealed shut. Scaly tissue was already beginning to glow over the pinkish, exposed flesh and Rapture's breathing was steadier than before. Still, despite the improvements, Aurora was applying the gel with a cautious and tender care.

'Alright,' Jedd rumbled getting everyone's attention, except for Aurora who still remained focused on her partner. 'We have a plan for how to cover up what we just did.'

'Really?' The question came from several lips all with different levels of disbelief and surprise, along with a little bit of hope.

'Yes,' Tom answered with confidence before immediately fading off into awkwardness as he prepared to continue. 'But before we begin we, um, we have to ask. Who has their credit cards on them?'

There was a momentary shuffling as, one by one, Peter, Adelheid, Elizabeth, Thaba and Egeria all took shiny platinum cards out of their outfits. Aurora didn't reveal a card but did raise her hand for a moment before returning to Rapture. Greta knew they all had cards on them but her own didn't really have that much on it that she hadn't budgeted drastically. Rapture still wasn't awake but Greta knew the other girl had no money on her. Tom, Jedd and Tobias were unknown to her but she knew they were all wealthier than she was.

'Good, um, thanks,' Tom said. 'Because this is going to be important.'

'But first,' Jedd interrupted, 'we're going to have to wake up, uh,' he paused as he tried to recall a name, 'Rapture. Making her recovery look convincing is the most important part of this plan.'

'Wake her up?' Aurora asked, looking sceptical. 'Are you sure?'

'Very,' Jedd answered. 'She should be ready to get consciousness. Just give her a slap; or a shake, or whatever.'

Aurora looked practically offended at Jedd's suggestion and was about to protest. 'I'll do it,' Greta said, wanting to avoid an argument on the issue. Jedd had mentioned this to her not too long ago and she been wrestling with the idea of protesting for some time.

'Greta,' Aurora began only to be cut off.

'We need her awake for this,' Greta said, trying to assuage her teammate. 'I'm sorry, alright.'

Aurora frowned but nodded. 'Fine, fine. I'll do it.' She leant down to her partner and began shaking the faunus girl's shoulders. The first few tries were tentative but after failing to get a response, she gave a much rougher shake and Rapture began to stir.

Rapture groaned for a moment and took in a deeper breath, grimacing as her wound was aggravated slightly. Frowning again, Aurora shook Rapture's shoulders once more and her eyes fluttered open. Sucking in another breath, Rapture's eyes opened fully and she let out a hiss of frustration and discomfort.

'Wha… what, what happened?' Rapture asked as she raised an arm to shield her eyes from the lights hanging high overhead at the top of the train carriage.

'Oh gods, are you alright, Rapture?' Aurora asked as she loomed over her partner, arms still on her shoulder to keep her lying down.

'I… it kinda hurts to breath,' Rapture said. Her voice sounded a bit weaker than usual but her breathing was steady.

'That might last for a while,' Jedd said from behind her. He was keeping an eye on Rapture, his brows furrowed slightly as he looked down at her.

'Where am I?' Rapture asked.

'On the maglev back to Vale,' Greta said. 'We, uh, we needed to get away from the Agricultural District.'

'What about the Red Fang?' Rapture then blurted out, her voice rising. Greta winced and put her hands up in panic, trying not to shush Rapture outright and hoping no-one else had heard her.

'It's alright,' Greta said, getting up a little and putting her hand out to try to placate her. 'Aanjay Laal's been beaten. The police were about to show up though so we had to get away.'

Rapture blinked and was about to speak, pushing her elbows against the truck to try to lever herself up and winced. Aurora pushed against Rapture's shoulders again, trying to get her to lie back down again.

'You, um, you got hit by Aanjay Laal,' Greta said, deciding to break the news to Rapture.

'Yeah,' Rapture grunted. 'I know.' She looked down and poked at the healing flesh still visible on her chest and hissed in pain.

'You should be fine,' Greta said, turning to Jedd for confirmation. He nodded and Greta let out a breath of relief. 'We just needed you up because we need to make a plan for what happens when we get back to Beacon.'

'Right,' Rapture grunted. She tried to prop herself up again and waved Aurora away when she moved to try to push her back down.

'Wait,' Aurora said in a panicked tone as Rapture forced her away and pushed herself into a sitting position.

Greta noticed why Aurora was panicking a second later. When Rapture had been slashed not only her flesh been cut open but so had her jacket and shirt and in order to heal her, they had, of course, left her clothing like that and not covered her up. Greta flushed as Rapture sat up and her parted clothing fell back to reveal her breasts. Rapture didn't notice for a second, sitting still and swaying a little with a woozy expression her face as she tried to regain her bearings. Greta stared at Rapture for several seconds, stunned by what she was seeing and then quickly caught herself. Whipping her head around, Greta looked away from her teammate and soon saw that most of the others were doing the same.

'Uh, Rapture,' Aurora said nervously, pointing down to Rapture's chest.

Rapture looked down and realised. Greta had never thought a crocodile could blush before but she was sure that she saw some kind of darkening on the scales that framed Rapture's face. She didn't say anything however and simply put her arms over her chest to cover herself, gritting her teeth as she pressed her arms against her wound and scowled at everyone.

'Don't just stand there,' someone hissed; Greta guessed it was Adelheid. 'Get her something.'

Egeria was the first to make a move, pulling Tobias' overcoat off of his back – much to his surprise and indignation – and throwing it to Rapture. Aurora caught it, putting it over Rapture's shoulders and let her pull it around her body to cover up her chest. Once Rapture had put the coat on, she shuffled over and propped her back up against the truck's wall.

'Alright,' Greta said once Rapture had turned and nodded to say she was ready and paying attention. 'So… we have a plan.'

'Yes,' several of them said, prompting her to continue.

'Okay, well, we've got to cover up what we've done here,' Greta began. 'All of us are going to be in, um, uh, serious trouble.' She looked around, trying to find the right words. Everyone knew what was going to happen to them but, once again, a part of her mind was still struggling to come to terms with what could happen.

"Come on," she thought to herself, trying not to smack her cheeks or pinch herself. "This is what you wanted, right? You argued for this. You told everyone they needed to do it. Stop trying to run away from this. It's not over yet."

'Sorry,' Greta said, realising she had paused for a bit. 'Um, where was I? Ah, right, yeah we'll need to ditch the truck. It's too damaged to just be cleaned and people are definitely going to ask questions. Jedd said he knows a rental garage that'll let him park this in it.'

'Charlotte's right?' Tobias said, looking at his brother. 'Wouldn't be the first time you've gone to her.'

Jedd nodded to his brother and then did the same to Greta, prompting her. 'Okay,' Greta continued, 'aside from that we kind of need to clean up. I don't know about any of you but well,' she looked down at her scuffed and dirt stained dress, 'I think we either need to find a really, really good laundromat or just buy new outfits.'

'Well I'm gonna need new clothes,' Rapture said. 'Unless Toby over there doesn't mind losing his coat because I'm not going back to Beacon with my tits out.'

Greta could only nod at that statement. She saw that the rest of the group were looking down at their own state of dirtiness, the wealthier members of the group looking visible uncomfortable. Most of them were even inspecting their clothing with forlorn expressions on their faces. Greta even saw Peter cringe at the dirt on his hands whilst Adelheid gave an aggravated sigh at her dress which had turned from white to a muddy beige.

'Okay,' Greta said again, getting their attention. 'Were going to go clean ourselves up and buy new outfits that means,' and here she paused as she knew the most difficult part was coming up, 'some of you are, um, you're going to have to pay for this.'

Greta saw realisation dawn on the faces of everyone who had previously taken credit cards out of their pockets. Already she could see everyone prepare to raise objections.

'Are you serious?' Adelheid said, raising her voice. 'I've already spent enough of my allowance on our outfits for the Vytal Festival.' Greta barely heard the others as they all spoke over one another but they seemed to be seeing the same thing, more or less.

'Guys, guys,' Greta said, trying to shout over the loud indignant voices of the rest of the group. No-one heard her, or if they did they were ignoring her in favour of continuing their complaints.

'Shut it!' Jedd shouted, the voice modulator in his respirator mask turned up and turning his voice into a bullish roar. The entire group went silent, several other people in the carriage turning their way. Greta cringed as she realised others were watching them and glanced at Jedd who was fiddling with what looked like a volume dial on his mask but other wise looked relaxed and satisfied with himself now that he had gotten everyone's attention.

'You will all be chipping in for this,' Jedd declared, a challenging look in his eyes as he scanned the group. 'Buy what you would if you were just going for a casual shopping trip. Don't go extravagant, unless you think you would for a, and I'm going to stress the word here, _casual_ trip.'

'Thanks, Jedd,' Tom said, piping up and drawing attention away from the second year team leader. 'There's also one more thing, it's the most important part of this plan and it concerns you, Edmund, Elena.'

'Hmm?' the Skye twins grunted in confusion as Tom nodded towards them. 'What do you need us to do?'

* * *

It was now the middle of the evening and, for what seemed like the dozenth time in the past month, Greta felt more worried than she ever had before in her life.

She was currently sat in a Bullhead, one of many that were currently ferrying students back to Beacon from the city. Everyone was sat around her, a tense atmosphere filling the passenger compartment as they all waited to land and play their part in the plan. Whilst cleaning themselves up and buying new outfits they had all gone over the details and made sure that they knew what to do and say to avoid contradictions.

Though they knew it was pointless in some people's cases, the first thing they had done was go to a public laundromat and wash whatever clothes could be put in the machines. There was a dry cleaners but it seemed some of the group – particularly Egeria, Peter, Adelheid and Aurora – had warmed up to the idea of just buying new outfits for themselves and had decided that they would wait. Peter's coat, which was heavily customised and held his weapons, would have to be cleaned back at Beacon. A trip to a public bathhouse immediately after that had let everyone wash themselves clean though they had been forced to rent some outfits from it afterwards in order to go across town to shop for new clothes.

Greta had been able to get her dress washed, going back to Beacon without it on being too suspicious to not have it cleaned up for her. The rest of her clothes were also easily cleaned but her trousers had gotten some rips at the cuffs of her ankles and the group had bought her some replacement jeans and t-shirts to keep their cover story up. She was now dressed in the fresh change of clothes, had replaced her makeup and her Aura had removed the scratches and bruises from the fight.

Rapture had been the hardest to deal with and she had ultimately agreed to accept a brand new set of clothing. The faunus girl was now sat across from her, dressed in a brand new, white shirt that covered the entirety of her chest and a black leather jacket covered in pockets that seemed to blend in quite well with her scaly skin. The jacket was currently left open and hung a little loose despite Rapture's broad muscular frame. She had insisted on keeping the shorts she normally wore, however, refusing anything from the other girls when they made suggestions; or tried to force them on her. A new belt was wrapped around Rapture's waist, however, that had a number of clips for accessories and items. When Greta had asked what she wanted the belt, which was a Huntress specific design, Rapture had simply become oddly sullen and hinted at fixing some kind of mistake.

Peter, Adelheid, Elizabeth and Aurora had all bought rather spectacular new outfits – a silvery suit in Peter's case and dresses for the others. They did seem to follow the rather particular themes they all followed for their hunting clothes, they just weren't customised to be as durable. Egeria had opted for a rather less dazzling dress that was still pure white and had what looked like glass sequins stitched into the hem and lining. Despite the ruination of her regular clothing she was visibly pleased with her new purchases and had spent much of the ride admiring them, though her appreciation appeared as strained as everything else the group was doing to try to distract themselves.

The others had settled for more mundane changes of clothing. Lach had gone for a combination of jeans, t-shirt and a rather long coat that he regarded with the reverence of someone who had acquired their heart's desire. He had stopped outside a hat-shop for a while with an utterly tempted look on his face at one point but had walked away from it when Tom had called for to catch up him during the shopping trip. Tom had simply bought a dress shirt, some smart but relatively casual trousers and a waistcoat. He had looked rather silly at one point when he came out in the ensemble with the most pleased expression on his face and described himself as dapper. It had been an admittedly pleasant moment during a trip that had ultimately been fraught with panic and apprehension.

The boys of Team JETT had treated the trip with much less enthusiasm. Tobias and Thaba had gone for rather simple clothing, simply getting their hands on new trousers and shirts. When several of the others, particularly Peter and Aurora had brought up their choices they had simply said they had other sets of what they were buying back at Beacon. Jedd had been a little more like the others, going for mostly black and clearly having a preference for whatever looked black, bulky and, theoretically, intimidating. He was now sat at the window-seat of the Bullhead, his body covered by the massive, black trench-coat he had been able to find in one of the shops he had insisted they visit.

The Skyes were both sitting, sullen and angry with what their purchases had been. Despite constant protest by the twins, their outfits had been picked for them. They were the group's trumpcard and had to play their part, no matter how much they hated the role they were given.

All in all the shopping trip had taken several hours, consuming the rest of the day and taking them dangerously close to the student curfew for the Bullheads. Greta had figured out, however, that for most of them the trip was cathartic; that they were cleaning the battle off of their bodies. She had felt much the same but, as always, the fear of being caught, punished and expelled gnawed at her gut.

'I can do this,' Greta murmured to herself. 'I wanted this. I can do it.'

A hand touched her shoulder and patted it softly. Greta knew it was Peter, he had sat down next to her the moment she had taken her seat in the Bullhead. Turning to her partner, Greta saw a small smile, lacking the usual charm and confidence he usually put into it. It was, however, reassuring. Peter didn't say anything, instead nodding in agreement, telling her that he had heard her whispers.

'Alright, everyone, look alive,' Jedd announced as the Bullhead shifted around them in preparation for the final approach to Beacon, letting out a heavy, hissing breath through his mask. 'Moment of truth.'

Greta tried not to clutch her churning stomach as the Bullhead descended. The last thing she needed was to look guilty. The others seemed to be psyching themselves up, many putting on casual expressions with an ease that frustrated Greta. She wished deeply, that she could adopt such nonchalance so easily and let out a breath as she forced a smile onto her face.

Sooner than Greta had hoped, the Bullhead touched down on the skydocks and opened the passenger doors. They all filed out, clutching the bags that held their soiled clothes and equipment. Several of the group chatted about numerous small and harmless topics that Greta wasn't paying attention to as her eyes darted around the skydocks, searching for the thing that would give away that they had been found out and weren't actually fooling anyone.

Despite her concerns though, Greta couldn't really see anything abnormal, other than the Vacuite soldiers being dispersed around their portion of the docks a little bit further than usual. Bullheads were coming and going, offloading students who had been pushing their luck with the curfew and then returning back to the city. Greta hoped they could slip into the crowds, make their way back to the dorms and end the day.

The group made it through the docks and onto campus without incident, Greta's casual smile slowly turning into a small frown as she continued to look around. No-one was really paying them any attention, most of the students too wrapped up in whatever they were doing to care, even if they did notice that their group was quite large.

'Greta, stop it,' Peter suddenly hissed. Greta turned to see he still had the same easy smile on his face. 'People will notice.'

'Oh, right,' Greta said, realising what he was talking about and putting her smile back on. 'Sorry.'

'It's alright,' Peter reassured her. 'You were just starting to look obviously worried. We'll be fine.' His last declaration sounded firm but also more like a reassurance for himself as well as her.

Getting closer to the dorms, Greta felt a little relieved. If they got to their rooms they could, hopefully, take a break, forget about what they had just been through and get on with the new week. With any luck no-one would connect them to the fight – it was unlikely, bordering on impossible but she could always hope and dream about the practically impossible possibility.

'Excuse me,' a voice called out to the group, stopping them dead in their tracks. Greta's heart almost stopped and her face froze in a look of panic as she recognised the voice. It was Professor Arc.

Greta tried to recover her normal expression and turned around with everyone else as they saw Professor Arc and Professor Smith walking up to them. Professor Smith had his usual grumpy look on his face as he approached them but Professor Arc was smiling a little, looking almost relieved and embarrassed as he did so.

'Ah, thanks,' Professor Arc said as he noticed he had their attention. 'Sorry to bother you but I heard you had Edmund and Elena Skye in your group. Is that right?'

'Oh, uh, yes sir,' Tom said, speaking first. 'They're with us right here.'

He stepped aside, showing the headmaster and his deputy their trumpcard. The Skye twins were both dressed in the most garish and tourist-like outfits that Greta had ever seen. Edmund had been put in bright, summery jeans and a loud, multi-coloured, striped church. He had kicked up too much of a fuss when they had suggested buying him a hat to wear but they had forced some sunglasses on him that he had put up over his head due to the waning sunlight. Elena, meanwhile, was in a stripey sundress of alternating yellow, blue and green bands and strapless shoes with a yellow handbag slung over her shoulder. The two of them looked both embarrassed and grumpy but immediately switched to a more awkward apprehension as the two teachers turned their gazes their way.

'Great,' Jaune said, grinning in a friendly fashion, seemingly making a visible effort not to stare at the Skyes' outfits. 'Your father wanted us to, uh, find out where you were. He went out to the Agricultural District and hadn't been able to get hold of you before he left.'

'Sorry, professor,' Tom said with an embarrassed smile. 'We decided to show them around the city.'

'Yeah,' Greta added, finally speaking up. 'Then Edmund and Elena kind of started hanging out with us a couple of days ago and we thought they could have a look through Vale.'

'Well, that's good to hear,' Professor Arc replied.

'They tricked us,' Elena growled at Professor Arc, sending the rest of the group an accusatory look.

'I can certainly see that,' Professor Smith said as he once again looked over their clothes.

'Told you,' Elena spat at Edmund with a derisive snort. Greta wasn't really sure if Elena was playing their part in the cover story, actually voicing their complaints again, or both.

'Yes,' Professor Arc said in a slightly less conversational tone, 'well, I just wanted to say that your father's coming back and he wants you to be on your ship when he gets back.'

'You mean right now?' Greta asked before she could stop herself.

'Afraid so,' Professor Arc clarified before turning back to address the Skyes. 'Would you mind heading over there now?'

Greta watched as Edmund and Elena nodded and walked off. They seemed to become even more awkward and self-conscious as they walked out of the group in their new "tourist" outfits. For a moment Greta regretted dressing the twins up as they had, especially now that they didn't have the rest of the group to hide in.

'So,' Professor Arc then said, 'where exactly did you take them today?'

'Sorry?' Greta asked, her stomach clenching in panic.

'Well,' Jaune continued with an easy smile on his face, 'Patriarch Skye was a bit… concerned, about his children when he left. He'll probably be asking me for details even if his children tell him. Do you mind filling me in?'

'Well...' Greta began, trying to recall the planned events they had gone over for their ruse. 'Edmund and Elena came over to us yesterday. They, uh, said that they were looking for somewhere to stay and that they were bored.'

'And you didn't think that sounded suspicious?' Professor Smith asked, an eyebrow raised sceptically.

'Um, uh… sorry professor,' Greta stammered, saying the only thing she could think of that wasn't explicitly incriminating. 'I, um, I didn't think of that.'

'It's a bit late for that,' Jaune said, his tone not really indicating anything. Greta looked at the headmaster but only saw him give her a prompting expression, telling her to continue.

'They said they were bored so we kind of planned to hang out for a bit,' Greta continued. 'They stayed over in our room and, well, that was when Elizabeth found us.' Greta turned and briefly waved an arm in the direction of the other girl. 'I think she thought we were up to something.'

'You were skulking round with a pair of strangers,' Elizabeth huffed.

'Yeah,' Greta retorted, 'but you didn't have to accuse us of anything.' She felt more confident in her role as she continued.

'I'm starting to see everything now,' Professor Arc then interrupted, holding up a hand to stop Greta. 'You all met up to take the Skyes out, didn't you?'

'Uh, yes, professor,' Greta immediately agreed. 'Then we just, kinda, went down into Vale.'

'Alright,' Jaune said. 'Thanks. That's all I needed to know. Go back to your dorms now; it's almost curfew.'

Receiving affirmatives from the entire group, the two professors then turned and walked back to the central tower of the academy. Greta stood in place, stunned at what had happened. There had been no interrogation, barely even a demand for an explanation; aside from the short, vague story she had told them before they had dismissed the conversation and left. For several seconds, Greta just stood in place and blinked until she subconsciously let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding in.

'Di… did he buy it?' Tom asked, sounding just as dumbfounded as Greta felt.

'Well I was certainly convinced,' Adelheid snarked with a snort.

'He can't have believed that,' Aurora said. 'That can't… that can't just be it.'

'I say we take what we've been given and go back to the dorms,' Jedd rumbled. 'If he's going to reveal that he knows and that we are, in fact, going to be punished we might as well do it in the comfort of our rooms.'

Greta heard several of the others voice agreement, most likely with the part about comfort and their rooms rather than the part about punishment. Greta, herself, grunted though she wasn't sure what exactly it was supposed to mean. She simply followed after the others as they walked over to the dorms, hoping for some rest after the day they had been through.

* * *

'You don't believe them do you?' John asked Jaune as the two of them stepped away from Greta Hexenpfahl and the group of equally wary and skittish students.

'No,' Jaune answered simply. He had a lot on his mind by this point. There was the news concerning the Red Fang, reports from Teams GOLD and SWRZ, complaints from the Council of Nox Skye's presence as an independent Hunstman and a call from Ruby concerning her journey. The fact that contact in the region she had been had been lost shortly after her call hadn't helped.

'You know that they would definitely have been there?' John asked again, his tone conversational now.

'Yeah,' Jaune replied. 'But they weren't seen, they weren't caught and nothing's shown up on the interlink incriminating them. Unless the police find something they could definitely trace back to them, or Nox Skye lets them take that wrecked car from him, there's nothing we really can do; or should do.'

'Really, Jaune?' John drawled in a sceptical tone. 'You're just going to let something this big slide?'

'Yeah,' Jaune answered in a matter of fact tone. 'No harm's been done, they stopped a dangerous attack by the Red Fang and did something that we've been trying to do for years; take out Aanjay Laal. I'd probably congratulate them but that'd give away that I know they're responsible.'

John sighed in resignation. 'Fair enough,' he conceded. 'That aside we still have a lot to deal with regarding that incident.'

'Only Nox,' Jaune countered, 'and there's nothing the Council can really do but complain. He was there as a Huntsman and had every right to get involved.'

'Indeed,' John sighed, scowling as he usually did when the topic of Nox Skye went on for too long.

The two of them walked out onto the skydocks, the last few returning students making way for them. Jaune wasn't sure if it was out of respect or worry that he would think they were up to something. He liked to think it was the first, it made him feel that bit more well regarded.

Continuing on, they walked over to the pier given over to Nox Skye's contingent. They strode past the white plastalloy armoured guards without being confronted and headed over to the massive reworked Hringhorni battleship moored to the extruding platform. Standing in front of the lowered boarding ramp were several figures, some of them Vacuite soldiers but others in more regular clothing. Jaune immediately recognised the Skyes, especially, the twins who were still dressed in their garishly colourful outfits and were being addressed by their father.

'Did you at least make a good showing of yourselves,' they heard Nox say as he glared down at his children.

'Yes, father,' Edmund Skye replied, not noticing Jaune and John approach.

'Very well,' Nox said, a contemplative expression on his face as the visibly thought over what the twins had just said. 'Return to your rooms, now.'

With that the twins jogged onto the boarding ramp and into the ship. Nox barely even moved his head as he shifted his gaze away from the spot his children had been standing on, towards Jaune and John as they walked up to him. Jaune gave the other man a smile and nodded in greeting, receiving a small, curt nod in return from Nox.

'Arc,' Nox said in a clipped tone, a frown on his face. 'What are you here for?'

'I'm just here to tell you we've finally finished the paperwork for Beacon's participation in the Vytal Festival,' Jaune replied.

'I see,' Nox stated in a matter of fact tone. 'Has it been transmitted to the Ausfahrung or to Vacuo City?'

'To the Ausfahrung.' Jaune replied, trying to pronounce the name correctly. 'I thought you'd rather go over it yourself.'

'Very well,' Nox said. 'That is appreciated. Now that you've finished the forms my business is done here. I will have all my assets withdrawn by tomorrow. I will be on the Ausfahrung if you need me for anything more. Arc,' he nodded and then turned to John and did the same, 'Professor Smith.' With that he turned on his heel and strode onto the ramp and into the ship, leaving Jaune and John.

'He really doesn't like letting people get a word in does he?' John drawled as they watched the Vacuite patriarch disappear into the hanger.

'No,' Jaune sighed, ' not really.'

'At least the Council won't be complaining at us once he's gone,' John then added, shrugging his shoulders.

'I don't think we'll be that lucky,' Jaune responded. 'They won't let up on us for letting him go out as a Huntsman. I'd rather take Nox, personally.'

'I guess we had better start organising who is going to Vacuo and who isn't' John suggested, reminding Jaune of the next workload he would have to tackle.

'Yeah,' Jaune agreed, giving his deputy and friend a tired smirk and an amused snort. 'It just never ends, doesn't it?'

* * *

The moment she got into her dorm-room, Greta collapsed on her bed, lying face-up and staring at the ceiling as irresistible exhaustion finally hit her like a maglev train. She wanted to let out a groan of fatigue but was too tired to give anything more than a particularly loud wheeze. The sound of springs protesting as they were pressed down upon told Greta that the others were likely doing the same. A pained grunt then broke the cadence of squeaking metal and Greta turned her head, the act taking most of her depleted strength, to see that Rapture was clutching her chest and grimacing.

'Are you alright?' Aurora said, pushing herself up into a sitting position and giving her partner a worried look.

'Just an… ache,' Rapture said after a noticeable pause. She then poked at her chest, running her hand over her clothes as she felt the area where the large gash in her flesh had been. 'It really happened, didn't it?'

Greta thought over what Rapture had just said, barely believing her recollections of the day. She lay on her bed, lost in the silence that had descended over the room the instant Rapture had finished speaking her question. It all felt so bizarre and terrifying now that it was over and the adrenaline had faded away.

'Yeah,' she finally said, the words seeming to echo around the room.

'I still have trouble believing it myself,' Peter then said, sounding very weary.

'I have more trouble believing that we got away with it,' Aurora added.

'Same,' Rapture agreed.

Silence once again descended on the room. Greta turned her head to see that the others were all looking back and forth between one another. Everyone seemed confused, except for Aurora who would have concern flicker over her face when she looked at her partner. They all seemed to be searching for something, casting imploring gazes at each other as if they had the answers. Greta felt the same, confusion and uncertainty warring with the small sense of relie she still felt after Professor Arc had accepted their lies and let them go.

'Do you think we're safe?' she then asked, getting everyone's attention.'

'What do you mean?' Aurora asked before anyone else could ask the same question.

'I guess, I think...' Greta trailed off as she thought about what it really was she was trying to say. 'Do you really think that's it? That we just gave a half-assed lie and Professor Arc let us go?'

'I would like to,' Peter eventually replied, the others nodding in agreement.

'And if he hasn't?' Greta asked. She felt a burning desire to hear her friend's thoughts; a need for confirmation of something, she wasn't sure what.

'Then we're expelled,' Peter said in a tone of utter finality, followed by a tired and forlorn sigh.

Greta hummed and then flopped back on her bed again, her expression and mood now incredibly depressed. The odd feeling was still there, a need for reassurance of something. For a few moments she stared up at the ceiling.

'Wou...' Greta began again, the sound of shuffling indicating that the others had heard her. 'Would you guys talk to me still… if we do get expelled, I mean?'

The question hung in the air as everyone processed it. A sense of dread settled into Greta's stomach in the few seconds everyone seemed to spend mulling over her words.

'Yeah,' Rapture finally said. 'Of course I will.'

'I would prefer that you say "would",' Aurora then said with an uncomfortable frown. '"Will" just sounds so certain.' Her face then softened a little though she still wasn't smiling. 'That aside, yes, of course I would; though my parents probably wouldn't like it.'

Greta then turned, still lying down, and looked at Peter. He was sitting it, a look of deep thought on his face. He looked uncomfortable. A small, painful sensation settled in Greta as her partner let the question linger, even after the others had already allayed her fears.

'It won't be easy for me,' Peter then said. 'If I get expelled I will be sent back to Atlas and my family will then make me do something to make up for my expulsion. Any chance I get to talk with any of you will have to be arranged beforehand. I would do it though.'

Greta let out a breath and smiled at the news. She let her head fall back onto the bed but felt a bit more relaxed.

'Thanks, guys,' she said. 'I don't really know what'd happen to me if I got kicked out of here.'

'Let's not think about that right now,' Rapture said in a weary tone.

'Yes,' Peter agreed, his own voice sounding worried. 'Let's not.'

'Yeah,' Greta said, whatever else she was about to say trailing off. She felt exhausted now and everything was becoming sluggish, heavy and slow as her fatigue finally started to overwhelm her. Her eyelids shut for a moment, flickered open as she tried, one last time, to stay awake and then closed, sending her to a deep sleep.


	20. Chapter Twenty: Epilogue: Season's End:

**Chapter** **Twenty: Epilogue: Season's End** **:**

 **Decemb** **er** **11** **th** **1** **462 of the Vytali Calendar:**

A cold front had swept into central Vale, bringing frosty weather and the beginnings of several small snow storms. The Beacon plateau, with its heightened elevation, faced the brunt of the bitterly cold wind that was blowing down from the north and whipping through the avenues of the campus. None of this, however, thinned the crowds of students who waited for the airships approaching the skydocks, ready to take them back to Vale for the Winter holiday.

Greta pulled the thick coat she was wearing a little closer and shivered, her teeth chattering as another chilling breeze hit her. She was currently standing at the entrance to the piers with her teammates standing in front of her, their personal bags at their feet and thick winter clothing covering them as they waited to be sent home. Peter and Aurora had members of staff wheeling trolleys filled with other bags in preparation for being loaded onto the whatever airship they had been given tickets for.

It had been more than three weeks, nearly a month, since the battle against the Red Fang and they hadn't heard a word from the police, government or teachers. It had taken nearly a week but finally, Greta had calmed down and accepted that they probably weren't going to be expelled or accused of anything. With the holiday having begun, the semester was officially over and so was their expulsion. Finally, after so long, she could get her life and her plan back and track.

'So you're really staying here?' Rapture asked Greta as the group picked up their bags. The group looked concerned as they turned to say their goodbyes.

'Yeah,' Greta said. 'I checked the Council's official website. Orphanages aren't supposed to keep you after you turn eighteen and my birthday's going to be next month. There's no point going back and the school lets you stay over the holidays. It's a lot better here than it is back in Magnus, anyway.'

'Are you sure you'll be alright by yourself for the entire holiday?' Aurora asked.

'Yeah, yeah,' Greta said, waving Aurora's concerns away. 'Don't worry, I know how to keep from getting bored.'

Greta saw Aurora and Peter glance at one another and frown, a hint of scepticism in their eyes. It only took a second but in that time Peter shrugged and Aurora nodded, as if they had come to a conclusion over what Greta had just said. Rapture, meanwhile, noticed what they were doing and merely rolled her eyes.

'I'll be fine,' Greta reassured them. 'You guys'll be back next month.'

They all nodded, smiles coming back onto their faces as the first of the ships closed in and docked with the piers, their boarding ramps extending out to lock onto the skydocks. Everyone by the docks clutched their clothes and their things as the repulsors and thrusters of the ships gave out one last burst of energy and sent a blast of air across the docks.

'Well this is it,' Greta said as the crowd began to move forward. 'I'll see you guys after the holiday.'

'I'll see you later,' Rapture said, stepping forward and wrapping Greta in a tight hug and accidentally hitting Greta's back with her bag as she swung it round in her grip.

'Thanks,' Greta groaned, wincing from the impact of the duffel bag and the tightness of Rapture's embrace.

'Sorry,' Rapture said as she let go and backed away, chuckling a little. 'Don't normally hug people.'

'It's alright,' Greta reassured her teammate as Aurora stepped forward.

'I hope you have a happy holiday,' Aurora said. 'I will remember to include you on the well-wishing list.'

'Thanks, Aurora,' Greta replied. Aurora stood in front of her for a moment, with a conflicted expression on her face and then sighed. She stepped forward and wrapped Greta in a brief embrace as well; thankfully one that wasn't as bone-crushing as Rapture's had been.

'I will try to call for the Solstice,' Peter then said as Aurora stepped back and he took her place. 'I can't exactly say when that will be but I will give fair warning.' He then held out his hand and Greta took and shook it. He smiled at her and she returned it as he let go of her hand and then stepped back with the others. 'Have a happy holiday,' Peter then said.

'Happy holidays,' Greta called out as the three of them hefted their bags and turned to walk onto the docks and board their ships, all three turning to wave back at her.

She stood in place as she watched her team disappear into the crowd. Team TEAL had already said their goodbyes and gone off to say goodbye to one another. Since they were all going home there was no-one she actually knew that was standing with her outside of the skydocks. Eventually the first of the ships began to take off and the next group moved in to take their place on the pier.

Once the next wave of ships had been filled, cast off and returned to Vale, making way for the next group, Greta turned away from the skydocks and headed back into campus. She sighed as she realised that, for the first time since she had arrived at Beacon, she was alone. She had been alone before but after several months with her team and friends, it felt a little odd and uncomfortable to look at the campus by herself.

"Well," Greta thought to herself, "might as well find something to do."

* * *

Aanjay Laal sat in the police interrogation room. She didn't know how many times she had been dragged into the small, grey, armoured space, chained down to a featureless plastalloy table that had been bolted to the floor and sat in a chair that was just as firmly fixed in place. Across from Aanjay was a great, metal door. It was flat and almost featureless, the raised bumps in the seamless sheet of metal giving away the reinforcing bands and internal spaces for what was likely a very strong locking mechanism the only hint of what a complex and almost impregnable obstacle the door really was.

After the battle she had shamefully lost and been incapacitated in, Aanjay had woken up in solitary confinement and had stayed there when she wasn't being dragged out to confront whatever government agent dared to sit across from her. They had spent what she assumed were weeks trying to force information out of her – she couldn't really tell, she never saw the sun or moon in her cell.

She had told them nothing. Police officers, special agents; and even Huntsmen had all come in and questioned her and had walked out with nothing. They had tried so many different methods in an attempt to break her. When simply talking hadn't received anything other than Aanjay's deathly glares or derisive insults, often in a variety of languages, they had switched to less civilised means. Truth serums and other chemicals, usually designed to inflict physical irritation and pain, had been injected into her but her lips remained sealed, except when she was snarling at her captors. One young Huntsman in rusty coloured armour had even tried working her over, beating her with a ferocious brutality. It didn't work and seemed to have been unplanned as several other armoured Huntsmen and Huntresses had rushed in to restrain Aanjay's beater.

The police and agents had all asked Aanjay about her brethren, if there were any more of them, if there had more military grade equipment, where they had gotten their previous stuff and other expected queries. The Hunstmen and Huntresses, however, had asked who she was working for. They seemed to already suspect her involvement with the Elder Grimm Society. Aanjay had no love for the Society, didn't care about their goals and didn't even care about why they had financed and equipped her brethren. As far as she cared, the monster-worshippers could all rot in the bellies of the Grimm they were stupid enough to revere.

Still, Aanjay hadn't wanted to give the humans any pleasure from her and so she had kept her mouth shut. Her captors knew as little, or possibly even less, about the Society as they did the Red Fang and as long as Aanjay's heart still beat it would stay that way.

Once again, Aanjay sat and stewed in her bitter thoughts. For the last few days – or so she assumed days were passing – the interrogators would leave her to think over what her next encounter would be. Silence filled the room with an oppressive atmosphere broken only by Aanjay's breathing. Then something changed.

A slicing sound broke the deathly silence, followed by the sound of sucking air. Aanjay looked up in surprise to see the air in front of the door collapse inwards and flowing rings of red light emanate from the wound in reality. Aanjay blinked as the harsh, abnormal light of the tear hurt her eyes to look at. The rings spread, growing wider and wider, the tear expanding with it until it reached from the floor to the ceiling, the pulsating red light filling the wall across from Aanjay.

Then a figure stepped out. Her eyes stinging from the painful light of the tear, it took Aanjay some time to recognise the brunette woman who stepped through the tear in a black dress, a bladed handgun in her left hand.

'Beathas,' Aanjay hissed, a vicious glare on her face.

'Laal,' Iseabal Beathas began, her tone conversational and her expression rather casual. 'I have to say that I'm quite pleased with what you've done. I thought I'd wait some time to congratulate you; just to make sure that everything would unfold as I expected.'

'What in all the hells are you talking about?' Aanjay snapped.

'I asked you to escalate, and you did,' Iseabal answered. 'It won't look like it if you step outside but you successfully shook the kingdom. The Council has been in chaos for weeks, people have lost their seats and others have taken their place; my people.'

Aanjay seethed as Iseabal smirked at her, superiority dripping from the other woman's every pore. She had known that Iseabal had her own reasons for supporting the Red Fang and didn't care if they had succeeded or not. She just despised the human's attitude; the open smugness, self-satisfaction and derision. It was everything she despised about humankind. Aanjay, for the first time in days, pulled at her restraints, wanting to rip the smug smirk off of the human woman's face

'Since you did such a big favour for us,' Iseabal then said, walking forward to Aanjay and ignoring her glares and violent thrashing, 'I have decided to give you a reward the likes of which you've probably never conceived of.'

'Fuck you and your reward,' Aanjay snarled.

Iseabal didn't say anything, her smirk merely widened into a malevolent grin. Her right hand reached out and Aanjay, now furious at the human, lashed out, reaching out to try to bite the woman's limb. Iseabal merely pulled her hand up and over Aanjay before she could get it, grabbing Aanjay by the hair and pulling her back and away. Aanjay didn't react, merely trying to haul herself close to Iseabal. Scowling, Iseabal relaxed her grip for a moment, only to push forward and take a stronger hold of the back of Aanjay's neck and then dug her fingers into the skin.

'Don't fight,' Iseabal said in a deceptively soothing tone, her superior expression back on her face. 'I have such wonderful, wonderful things to show you.'

Iseabal's left hand flicked out and the bladed handgun in her hand slit the air in front of her, a tiny rip opening up and pulsing. Aanjay, tried to pull against Iseabal's grip but the human's hand remained firmly dug into the back of Aanjay's neck and then, with a quick thrust, pushed Aanjay's face into the tear.

The world collapsed in front of Aanjay's eyes. For an instant all she saw was an inky darkness that slithered and shifted as vast, indescribable shapes swam within it. Aanjay tried to suck in a breath of shock but found there was nothing to breathe. The darkness closed in on her, even as the thin, red light of the portal rushed ahead of her and lit up the endless blackness. Aanjay panicked and tried to pull away, the impossible dark void pulling both away from and towards her but Iseabal's hand still seemed to hold firm, keeping her face in the portal. In that second of mortifying fear Aanjay choked, the shapes noticing it and seeming to squirm and reach towards her, invisible but recognisable appendages pushing out in her direction, trying clasp her face. Then, in an eye-blink, they were gone and the light returned.

Aanjay found herself in the air, racing through the sky over a flat, endless plain she didn't recognise. Sucking in air, Aanjay felt even more disoriented as, suddenly, she found her view dominated by a vast black mountain that reached higher than any she had ever seen in her life. The immense, monolithic, black peak loomed over her as she moved closer and closer until finally, she came to a stop in front of a wall of jagged, black stone.

Aanjay stared at the wall, still stunned from the void she had been thrust into. Gasping in panic, Aanjay saw the wall rise over her, reaching high up ahead until it disappeared into the sky. Then the wall began to shudder. Aanjay could see, hear and feel the stone shudder and shake in front of her eyes and then it split.

Debris fell away and rolled down the side of the mountain beneath to the plain below as a massive, craggy seam ripped itself open and then lifted the wall up. A glowing red light filled Aanjay's vision and she shut her eyes against, blinding herself. She could still hear the ground rip and grind as the wall rose higher and higher. Opening her eyes again, Aanjay dared to look up and saw that the wall was still rising, a great expanse now filled with the glare of the red light. It filled a space as tall as Vale's greatest skyscraper, higher than the famous beacon of Beacon Academy.

For a second, the light glowed and Aanjay could only gasp and shake as she looked at the alien edifice she was being forced to witness. Then the glow shifted, rolling and spinning as a dark mass floated through the red light to rest in front of her.

' _ **Child,**_ ' a great, deafening voice intoned. Aanjay felt a presence claw its way into her mind, speaking without words and forcing it's voice directly into her brain. The voice felt wrong, painful and horrifically monstrous as it pushed aside her thoughts and dominated her mind. ' _ **I see you.**_ '

With those words, Aanjay realised what she was looking at. The red light, the dark shape floating in front of her in it; it was an eye, an eye larger than any building, embedded in a mountain that moved. The voice in her mind, the great eye dominating her view and the mountain that loomed over the endless plain, it was a Grimm; a great vast Grimm.

The voice roared in her mind, deafening her thoughts, shredding her mind and Aanjay screamed and kept screaming even as her throat turned raw. Aanjay screamed, never stopping as the roar echoed on and on through her mind, her memories and her very soul. And so she was claimed for the Elder Grimm.


End file.
